Philip Andrew Babb (born 30 November 1970 in Lambeth, London) is a former English-born Irish professional footballer, who played mainly as a central defender.

[edit] Football career

Babb began his career with Millwall F.C. as a trainee, but failed to make an appearance for the first team before signing for Bradford City in the summer of 1990, after their relegation to the Football League Third Division.

He scored on his debut for the club, as a substitute, a 2–1 win over Reading F.C. in the league, on 8 September 1990. He would make 34 appearances with 10 goals in the league alone - making him one of the highest scoring defenders in The Football League that season.

Babb's good form continued into the following season, as he played in all 46 league games and scored four goals. However, he was unable to lift Bradford into promotion, and when Coventry City made a £500,000 bid for him at the end of the season, he accepted, and the transfer went ahead on 21 July 1992.^[1]

Babb went straight into the first team at Highfield Road, as the "Sky Blues" became founder members of the Premier League, and defied all the odds to avoid relegation in 1992–93. Although they finished 15th in the final table, they had spent much of the season in the top five and managed a string of impressive results - particularly a 5–1 home win over Liverpool. Babb's strong form continued into 1993–94, as he helped Coventry finish 11th. He played three games for them in the following campaign, before completing a £3.6million move to Liverpool on September 1, 1994. At the time, he was the most expensive defender in English football.^[2]

Babb struggled to adapt to the tactics employed by manager Roy Evans, although he did play regularly as the club finished fourth in 1995 (also winning the Football League Cup), third in 1996 (adding a presence in the season's FA Cup), fourth in 1997 (after leading the table for most of the season until late January), and third in 1998.^[3] He scored once during his time at Liverpool, ironically against his former club Coventry in September 1996.^[4]

Babb fell out of favour with new boss Gérard Houllier, who took over at the start of the 1998–99 season, and had a loan spell at Tranmere Rovers before leaving the club on a Bosman transfer in the summer of 2000. He signed for Sporting Clube de Portugal, and was voted the best defender in his second season, as the Lions conquered both the league and cup. He later moved to Sunderland AFC, overseeing their relegation in 2003, and retired a year later, as the club narrowly missed out on promotion, also suffering an FA Cup semi-final defeat.

Babb's career hit controversy in August 2000, when he and Mark Kennedy were ordered home from the Republic of Ireland squad after appearing in court accused of causing criminal damage, causing a breach of the peace and being drunk and disorderly. They were rolling across car bonnets while replicating scenes from Starsky and Hutch, but unfortunately chose an unmarked police car.^[5]

Babb earned 35 full international caps, including four complete matches at the 1994 FIFA World Cup, as the nation reached the last-16. His final match for Ireland was an Euro 2004 qualifier against Russia, played in Moscow. He would come into the game as an 85th-minute substitute, with his first touch of the ball being diverted behind Irish goalkeeper Shay Given for an own goal. The Republic of Ireland lost the game 4–2, with ironically all three of manager Mick McCarthy's substitutes (Gary Doherty, Clinton Morrison and Babb) "scoring".^[6]

In 2006, Babb helped to save the award-winning publication Golf Punk Magazine. He, alongside former Sunderland teammates Thomas Sorensen, Michael Gray, Jason McAteer and Stephen Wright, had been an earlier investor in the publication.^[7]

[edit] References

[edit] External links

• Phil Babb career stats at Soccerbase
• NationalFootballTeams data
• Profile at Zerozero

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