871 Stephen McPhee

Biography

Pacy striker Stephen McPhee joined Hull City in May 2005 for a reported £220,000 fee as manager Peter Taylor constructed a squad capable of thriving in League One after promotion the previous May. While Taylor’s work was rewarded twelve months later with a second consecutive promotion, McPhee was not a major part of that success – after impressing in the opening weeks of the season he suffered a knee injury in August 2005 that kept him on the sidelines for fiteen months. When he returned to action in December 2006 he made a contribution to Phil Brown’s Championship side as they narrowly avoided relegation in April 2007. In the first half of the 2007/08 season Stephen was a more regular presence in the City first team as Brown’s side climbed the Championship table after a slow start – he scored his first goal for the Tigers in an August 2007 League Cup tie against Crewe Alexandra and netted two Championship goals against Charlton Athletic and Cardiff City. McPhee left the Tigers in January 2008.

Stephen McPhee was born in Glasgow but his father’s globe-trotting work as an engineer meant that he came into football while living in the Netherlands, joining Dutch side Vitesse Arnhem at the age of 14 alongside his older brother Gary. In September 1998 the brothers both joined Premier League side Coventry City and in his first season Stephen contributed to the Sky Blues reaching the FA Youth Cup in May 1999, only to lose heavily to West Ham United. In May 2000 McPhee was an unused substituite in a Premier League match against Sheffield Wednesday, which proved to be as close as he got to the Coventry City’s first team.

In March 2001 McPhee joined Scottish Premier League strugglers St Mirren on loan – the Buddies had conspicuously tried to sign Brazilian teenager star Ronaldinho on loan from Gremio, ahead of the future superstar’s summer move to Paris St Germaine, and McPhee’s arrival was widely and unfairly reported as a consolation prize. Stephen performed well at St Mirren, making his senior debut in March 2001 against Dunfermline Athletic and ending the season with 7 appearances as St Mirren finished bottom of the table. With parent club Coventry City also relegated that season, McPhee was released by the Sky Blues.

In July 2001 McPhee joined League Division 2 side Port Vale, working under the guidance of Hull City legend Brian Horton. Stephen scored on his August 2001 Vale debut against Notts County and reached double figures for goals in January 2002, ending the season having missed only two league matches. He endured a difficult second season when he found goals hard to come by, then in the 2003/04 season he burst into the limelight and netted 27 goals in all competitions for both Horton and his managerial successor Martin Foyle. At the end of the season Port Vale narrowly missed out on the end of season play-offs and McPhee decided to draw his time at Vale Park to an end – he scored 44 goals for the club in 147 appearances across three seasons.

In June 2004 McPhee headed south, signing for Portuguese Superliga side SC Beira-Mar who were rather improbably managed by 1990s long ball merchant Mick Wadsworth. Stephen made his August 2004 debut against Benfica and scored his first goal for the club a fortnight later against Nacional, but Beira-Mar struggled during a 2004/05 season that ended in relegatioin – McPhee left the club in July 2005 having scored six goals in 34 appearances.

In January 2008 McPhee joined Championship side Blackpool for a fee reputed to be £215,000, good business for the Tigers after an injury ravaged spell at the KC Stadium and testament to McPhee’s footballing qualities. He was a regular starter during the rest of the 2007/08 season after his January 2008 debut against Charlton Athletic and perhaps looked on wistfully as Blackpool ended the season just above the relegation zone while Hull City triumphed in the play-offs at Wembley Stadium. His persistent knee injury hampered him during the 2009/10 season and in May 2010 McPhee announed his retirement from the professional game, having scored four goals in 24 appearances for Blackpool.

As his playing days drew to a close McPhee took his coaching badges and he worked for the first team coaching staff at Blackpool beteween July 2010 and August 2011. He then returned to Port Vale where he coached the Under-16s side for five years until 2016. He then left the game, having acquired a printing business in Manchester in 2013. In 2023 he moved into the IT equipment recycling business, a role he left in January 2026. In 2024 McPhee revealed that during the later injury-studded years of his football career he suffered from depression and on one occasion considered taking his own life.

McPhee won a single Scotland under-21 cap against Latvia in October 2001.

Details

Nationality: Scotland
Date/Place of Birth: 5 June 1981, Glasgow
Hull City First Game: 6 August 2005, Queens Park Rangers H (Championship), 24 years, 62 days old
Hull City Final Game: 22 December 2007, Charlton Athletic A (Championship), 26 years, 200 days old

Clubs

Vitesse Arnhem (1997-1998), Coventry City (1998-2001), St Mirren (2001, loan), Port Vale (2001-2004), SC Beira-Mar (2004-2005), Hull City (2005-2008), Blackpool (2008-2010)

Hull City Record

Career: 40 apps, 3 goals