I won’t mourn the departure of Kalvin Phillips

Maybe it’s because I’m older and wiser, more jaded by modern football but I won’t mourn the departure of Kalvin Phillips like I did other players who moved on in the past.

The first to break my heart was another No 4. David Batty may have been diminutive in stature but he was a giant on the football pitch, the heart of the midfield that gained promotion from Division Two and lifted the Football League title in 1992. Just a year after that famous victory, Batty was on his way to Blackburn Rovers. It felt like a dagger in the heart, that beginning of the end for that great side. Local lad and lynchpin of that side on his way, lured across the Pennines by Jack Walker’s money and the promise of competing at the top. Perhaps it was a move that foreshadowed what was to come in modern football. Blackburn Rovers may not be the power they were but money speaks louder than ever in football.

The second really cut deep when just a few years later my hero, Gary Speed, left for Everton. Things hadn’t been great at Elland Road for a couple of seasons as Howard Wilkinson wrestled with the task of rebuilding the side. But Speed leaving was a real heartbreaker. He was young, good looking and bloody good at football, perhaps one of the most underrated players in Premier League history. What’s more is a move to Everton felt like a sideways step, there was no lure of big money or titles, it just all felt so pointless. Things would get better again for Leeds United a couple of years later, but Speeds departure felt like the real low point for me.





Moving on to more recent times when we had to witness the pointless tearing apart of Simon Grayson’s promotion winning team, epitomised by the departure of Jonny Howson to Norwich. A fan of the club, former season ticket holder and captain, his departure in January for a pittance was another low blow. It signified a lack of ambition, a sign that pushing on for promotion was not in Ken Bates’ plans. Norwich may have been in the Premier League, but it still felt like a sideways step. He should have gone on to greater things, he should have led Leeds United back to the top-flight.

In reality Kalvin Phillips leaves owing us nothing. He stayed help us back to the Premier League when he could have left for Aston Villa and he contributed to a fantastic first season back in the top-flight. After last season and our inability to push on it was inevitable he would leave, his international career almost demands he play at a higher level. For a team like Leeds United, finding our feet in the Premier League, aiming for mid-table at most there is an inevitability that our best players will be lured by the top teams. When City and their petro dollars come in for your players, just as they did with Grealish from Villa last summer, there is little you can do.

So, I won’t mourn Phillips departure. Not because I don’t love him, not because he didn’t contribute massively to our successes over the past few years and one of the best periods there has ever been to support our fantastic football club but because in this modern game his departure was almost inevitable. When the likes of PSG and City come calling there is nothing you can do! I thank him for everything he has done and wish him every success for the future, except for when we play City of course.