Gary Phillips (Australian soccer)

Gary Phillips (born 9 June 1963) is an Australian soccer coach and former professional player, who is coach of the Cook Islands women's national team.

Gary Phillips
Personal information
Full name Gary Michael Phillips
Date of birth (1963-06-09) 9 June 1963 (age 61)
Place of birth Australia
Position(s) Midfielder
Youth career
Coffs Harbour
Senior career*
Years Team Apps (Gls)
1982–1993 Sydney Olympic 274 (17)
1993–1997 Brisbane Strikers 98 (2)
International career
1979–1981 Australian Schoolboys ? (?)
Managerial career
1999–2001 Queensland Academy of Sport
2001 Tonga
2001–2003 Sydney Olympic
2004 Da Nang F.C.
2008–2009 Newcastle Jets (W-League)
2009–2011 Sabah FA
2014–2015 Papua New Guinea (women's)
2015–2016 Negeri Sembilan FA
2017 Davao Aguilas
2019–2021 Nepal (Technical director)
2021 Nepal (women's)
2022–2023 Cook Islands (women's)
*Club domestic league appearances and goals

Playing career

edit

A central midfielder, Phillips played for more than a decade with Sydney Olympic in the National Soccer League before joining Brisbane Strikers, winning titles with both clubs. He retired after the 1996–1997 season.

Coaching career

edit

As a coach, Phillips was in charge of Sydney Olympic in the 2001–2002 and 2002–2003 seasons, winning the title in 2001–2002, before he was extraordinarily dismissed the following season.

Phillips was the inaugural coach of Newcastle Jets during the 2008–09 W-League season.[1]

After working in a coaching capacity for the Asian Football Confederation in Kuala Lumpur, Phillips took over as head coach and technical director of Malaysian Premier League side Sabah FA in December 2009 and guided the team to Super League promotion in 7 months.[2] After a tough start to life in the Super League as the team was rocked by injury and forced to play eight of their first 12 matches on the road, Phillips was dismissed on 5 May 2011, replaced by former Sabah player and coach of Sabah President's Cup team Justin Ganai.[3]

In February 2015, he took over as manager of Papua New Guinea women's national football team.[4]

Shortly following the conclusion of the 2015 Malaysia Premier League season, Phillips returned to Malaysia and signed a contract with NS Matrix F.C. Some of his first signings were all former A-League players.[5]

He coached the Davao Aguilas during the 2017 season until he was replaced midseason in September 2017 by Marlon Maro.[6]

In July 2019, Phillips was appointed Technical Director for the Nepal national team.[7] He was signed on a one-year contract, with his salary paid by the Asian Football Confederation.[8]

Phillips was appointed coach of the Nepal women's national team in February, 2021.[9]

In May, 2022, he was appointed coach of the Cook Islands national women's team.

Television

edit

Gary currently is an occasional football pundit on Malaysian television network Astro and its twice weekly FourFourTwo TV Show, and also Fox Sports in Australia.[10]

Honours

edit

Club

edit

As coach

Olympic Sharks

Sawty Scorpions 2016-

References

edit
  1. ^ "Coach Phillips prepares for W-League kick-off". Newcastle Jets. 6 October 2008.
  2. ^ "New Sabah Times". www.newsabahtimes.com.my. Archived from the original on 30 September 2011.
  3. ^ "New Sabah Times". Archived from the original on 30 September 2011. Retrieved 19 May 2011.
  4. ^ "Gary Phillips has come a long way after NSL title wins, now he wants to take Papua New Guinea women's team to promised land". 26 February 2015.
  5. ^ Dasey, Jason (3 December 2015). "Gary Phillips' and A-League quartet revamp Malaysia's Negeri Sembilan". Sydney Morning Herald. Retrieved 12 December 2015.
  6. ^ Tupas, Cedelf (20 September 2017). "Aguilas seek first win vs Ceres-Negros". Philippine Daily Inquirer. Retrieved 21 September 2017.
  7. ^ "ANFA Appoints Australian Coach Gary Michael Phillips As Technical Director". GoalNepal. Retrieved 13 October 2019.
  8. ^ "Australian national Phillips named ANFA technical director". kathmandupost.com. Retrieved 13 October 2019.
  9. ^ Republica. "Gary Phillips is new head coach of Women's National Football Team". My Republica. Retrieved 26 February 2021.
  10. ^ "Captain Philips back on board".
edit