Ex-Millwall and Norwich City man joins former Sunderland great after winning European award

Kevin Phillips is no longer the only Englishman to have won the European Golden Shoe.

The European Golden Shoe, also known as the European Golden Boot, is an award presented each season to the leading goalscorer in league matches from the top division of a European national league.

The trophy, which is a sculpture of a football boot, was presented to Sunderland hero Kevin Phillips after the 1999-2000 season after the former Watford and Aston Villa man netted 30 goals in the Premier League under Peter Reid in the English top-flight.

The award has since been won by the likes of Henrik Larsson, Thierry Henry, Francesco Totti, Lionel Messi, Cristiano Ronaldo, Luis Suarez, Robert Lewandowski and Erling Haaland. However, it has taken 24 years for another Englishman to win the Golden Shoe.

England captain Harry Kane has scooped the award this season after netting 36 goals in the Bundesliga during his first season with Bayern Munich. The German giants, however, failed to win a single major trophy this season despite the former Tottenham, Millwall and Norwich City man’s goals. Kane becomes the second Englishman in total alongside Phillips to win the award.

Phillips recently stated that believes he would have been worth an eye-watering £100m fee if he was playing in the modern era alongside Kane.

The former Sunderland hero netted an astonishing 130 goals in 235 appearances during his prime at the Stadium of Light between 1997 and 2003. Phillips picked up eight England caps but failed to break through as a regular for his country in an era of intense competition.

“If I was playing now, I might be worth £100m and picking up 50 caps for England,” speaking after his sacking as Hartlepool United boss recently.

“I feel privileged to have got eight England caps. I was in every squad for two years and I went to Euro 2000. I was competing with seven or eight class strikers in my time and playing for Sunderland. I was privileged to have got eight caps amongst the likes of Alan Shearer, Robbie Fowler, Michael Owen, Andy Cole and Teddy Sheringham. There is no competition for England strikers now.

“My only bitterness is that I didn’t get any minutes at Euro 2000. We got knocked out in the group stages and I remember warming up in front of Kevin Keegan as if to say ‘Get me on the pitch’. I’d just come off the back of a 30-goal season in the Premier League, but I didn’t get any minutes.”

Sunderland are currently without a head coach after the sacking of Michael Beale earlier this year. The Black Cats, though, are expected to appoint a new man this summer.

“I played golf up in the North East during the weekend with a big Sunderland fan, and he mentioned, which I think got sacked harshly, Liam Rosenior,” said Phillips added

“They (Hull) finished three points outside the play-offs, when he took over they were a point outside the relegation zone. “He’s a fantastic coach. He worked well with Rooney at Derby, did a great job there, and he’s stepped up to management. He’s young. And when this guy mentioned him, I thought, ‘I quite like that one’.”