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Really interesting and very much confirms the stories about what happened. I wonder though whether if us buying Phillips had gone through whether we would still have signed Jonno a few months later? He went on to be a Town legend and scored goals for fun too, and I can't imagine we'd have been able to afford both at the time.
Kevin Phillips on nearly joining Ipswich on 13:47 - Nov 23 by Herbivore
Really interesting and very much confirms the stories about what happened. I wonder though whether if us buying Phillips had gone through whether we would still have signed Jonno a few months later? He went on to be a Town legend and scored goals for fun too, and I can't imagine we'd have been able to afford both at the time.
Strange as it may sound, I have no regrets that we didn't sign Phillips. With Johnson it was so clearly, and so quickly, a case of right player, right fit, right club. Not sure what more Phillips could have done.
We sold I think Claus Thomson for a million a few months earlier so fans right to be angry that we wouldn’t pay £300k for Kevin Phillips even without the hindsight of how good he would become
Kevin Phillips on nearly joining Ipswich on 13:48 - Nov 23 by SomethingBlue
Strange as it may sound, I have no regrets that we didn't sign Phillips. With Johnson it was so clearly, and so quickly, a case of right player, right fit, right club. Not sure what more Phillips could have done.
I'd agree with that. Would Phillips have been as big a success here? Really hard to say, but given Jonno's contribution he'd have had to go some to do as well.
Kevin Phillips on nearly joining Ipswich on 13:49 - Nov 23 by Herbivore
I'd agree with that. Would Phillips have been as big a success here? Really hard to say, but given Jonno's contribution he'd have had to go some to do as well.
The real dodged bullet was when we went after Don Goodman inbetween the Phillips/Johnson attempts ...
Kevin Phillips on nearly joining Ipswich on 13:47 - Nov 23 by Herbivore
Really interesting and very much confirms the stories about what happened. I wonder though whether if us buying Phillips had gone through whether we would still have signed Jonno a few months later? He went on to be a Town legend and scored goals for fun too, and I can't imagine we'd have been able to afford both at the time.
Beyond Johnno... it probably would've meant we wouldn't have been able to sign Marcus Stewart, who had arguably more to his game than Phillips.
Kevin Phillips on nearly joining Ipswich on 13:47 - Nov 23 by Herbivore
Really interesting and very much confirms the stories about what happened. I wonder though whether if us buying Phillips had gone through whether we would still have signed Jonno a few months later? He went on to be a Town legend and scored goals for fun too, and I can't imagine we'd have been able to afford both at the time.
No, we wouldn't have had the need for Johnno. The transfer which held up the Phillips deal was Tony Vaughan's move to Manchester City. It went to a tribunal and yielded £1.35m, more than enough to have signed Phillips. Not listened to the podcast yet and whether he mentions it, but it was so close that he was all set to go on the pre-season tour with his boots already on the bus ready for him to go.
Kevin Phillips on nearly joining Ipswich on 14:03 - Nov 23 by PhilTWTD
No, we wouldn't have had the need for Johnno. The transfer which held up the Phillips deal was Tony Vaughan's move to Manchester City. It went to a tribunal and yielded £1.35m, more than enough to have signed Phillips. Not listened to the podcast yet and whether he mentions it, but it was so close that he was all set to go on the pre-season tour with his boots already on the bus ready for him to go.
He said the deal was basically done and they'd even identified the area they wanted to live, but the tribunal was what scuppered the deal.
If it's a choice between Jonno and Phillips, which it basically is, then I'm pretty happy with how things panned out. I've always liked Phillips and he comes across really well in the interview too, but Jonno is a bona-fide Town legend.
Kevin Phillips on nearly joining Ipswich on 13:49 - Nov 23 by Trequartista
We sold I think Claus Thomson for a million a few months earlier so fans right to be angry that we wouldn’t pay £300k for Kevin Phillips even without the hindsight of how good he would become
You don't just roll over and pay whatever someone asks/wants/demands though do you, otherwise you get turned over every single time.
Happens in all walks of life. You would never pay a tradesmen his first offer to you, would you?
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Kevin Phillips on nearly joining Ipswich on 14:17 - Nov 23 with 2304 views
Kevin Phillips on nearly joining Ipswich on 14:10 - Nov 23 by itfc_bucks
Good few years between Johnno joining and Stewie.
But if Phillips was the established star striker two years on from signing then:
a) would the need for Marcus Stewart have been identified; and if so
b) would signing Stewart have caused imbalances and personal differences that did not arise with the, possibly too accomodating and warm hearted, David Johnson II?
Kevin Phillips on nearly joining Ipswich on 14:17 - Nov 23 by WeWereZombies
But if Phillips was the established star striker two years on from signing then:
a) would the need for Marcus Stewart have been identified; and if so
b) would signing Stewart have caused imbalances and personal differences that did not arise with the, possibly too accomodating and warm hearted, David Johnson II?
That's more the kind of thing that I was meaning, but not in such clear terms!!
Kevin Phillips on nearly joining Ipswich on 13:49 - Nov 23 by Trequartista
We sold I think Claus Thomson for a million a few months earlier so fans right to be angry that we wouldn’t pay £300k for Kevin Phillips even without the hindsight of how good he would become
Seem to remember it was more about Sheepy not being prepared to risk the fee being determined by a panel. In those day prudence was the key word.
Kevin Phillips on nearly joining Ipswich on 13:48 - Nov 23 by SomethingBlue
Strange as it may sound, I have no regrets that we didn't sign Phillips. With Johnson it was so clearly, and so quickly, a case of right player, right fit, right club. Not sure what more Phillips could have done.
What more could have Phillips done over David Johnson....
Phillips would have been Marcus Stewart 3 years before we signed Stewart which is why we went up when we did. No offence to Johno, but Phillips was lightyears ahead of him as a striker as proven by the fact he did it in the Championship (he scored 35 goals for Sunderland that season), he did it in the Premiership (55 odd goals in the two subsequent seasons). David Johnson was out of his depth in the Premier League, so much so we sold him, I wish we hadn't as we needed him in subsequent seasons but still think of this...
Phillips signs for Town, we go up into the Premier League with Wright, Taricco, Dyer, Holland, Petta and Scowcroft in 98... we would have had our best players from that period and we would have gotten much more out of them as they'd have been younger. If we could have stayed up, and I think we would have we'd have been able to build the club financially without the immediate threat of the itv digital disaster that came because we dropped in 2002. I think the entire timeline would be different had we signed Phillips that season.
To think we missed out of that for Tony Vaughan. That's such an Ipswich thing to happen.
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Kevin Phillips on nearly joining Ipswich on 15:34 - Nov 23 by TieDyedIn95
What more could have Phillips done over David Johnson....
Phillips would have been Marcus Stewart 3 years before we signed Stewart which is why we went up when we did. No offence to Johno, but Phillips was lightyears ahead of him as a striker as proven by the fact he did it in the Championship (he scored 35 goals for Sunderland that season), he did it in the Premiership (55 odd goals in the two subsequent seasons). David Johnson was out of his depth in the Premier League, so much so we sold him, I wish we hadn't as we needed him in subsequent seasons but still think of this...
Phillips signs for Town, we go up into the Premier League with Wright, Taricco, Dyer, Holland, Petta and Scowcroft in 98... we would have had our best players from that period and we would have gotten much more out of them as they'd have been younger. If we could have stayed up, and I think we would have we'd have been able to build the club financially without the immediate threat of the itv digital disaster that came because we dropped in 2002. I think the entire timeline would be different had we signed Phillips that season.
To think we missed out of that for Tony Vaughan. That's such an Ipswich thing to happen.
I see what you mean and Phillips was, without question, a better finisher than Johnson hence all the things he achieved. But I don't think Phillips alone could have created the scenario you outline. When Johnson joined we were — by the standards of Burley's time — pretty stodgy and not creating a lot. There'd been some horror shows (Charlton a, Stockport h ... how the hell can I remember all this but none of our games from three seasons ago). Johnson was quick, direct, liked to get early shots away, was able to get us going from nothing and changed the way we could attack. Not sure Phillips would have done all that at the time. We'd have needed more behind him.
Kevin Phillips on nearly joining Ipswich on 14:13 - Nov 23 by BlueBlueBluex2
You don't just roll over and pay whatever someone asks/wants/demands though do you, otherwise you get turned over every single time.
Happens in all walks of life. You would never pay a tradesmen his first offer to you, would you?
Thanks for sharing Joe. You never know how much truth is in certain rumours, so interesting to hear his side.
I guess we only tend to talk about the good ones that got away, there's countless examples of clubs nearly buying players and some we would probably look back on and think we dodged a bullet, whereas some will be with regret. Although you never really know how something is going to click, and to be fair to Phillips he made the right call. He scored loads for Sunderland in the Prem and got himself some England caps, so I dare say he doesn't regret that a jot, equally we got Johnson so it probably turned out for the best.
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