New manager of seventh-tier South Shields on knock-backs, hearing his name sung again and whether he will copy Peter Reid
Kevin Phillips starts with a confession. “Before I signed for Sunderland I didn’t even know it was by the sea,” says the new manager of South Shields. “Geography clearly wasn’t my strong point but I ended up enjoying my time in this area so much that, in the back of my mind, I’ve always hoped to come back one day.”
The former England striker’s return to the north-east has brought him to Mariners Park, seven miles up the road from the Stadium of Light and a 10-minute drive from the sandy North Sea beaches where he will doubtless sometimes put his fully professional seventh-tier Northern Premier League Premier Division squad through their paces.
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