McPhail: Stephen John Paul (Stephen)

1996-2004 (Player Details)

Left Midfield

Born: Westminster, London: 09-12-1979

Debut: v Leicester City (a) (Substitute): 07-02-1998

5’10” 12st (2007)

Born in Westminster, London but raised in New York and Dublin, McPhail came through the ranks at Elland Road. He was part of the same Leeds United Youth team which produced other full internationals Harry Kewell, Alan Maybury, Matthew Jones, Jonathan Woodgate and Paul Robinson, which carried off the FA Youth Cup in 1996-97 and the Reserves Pontin’s League Championship in 1997-98. He began to make an impact on the first team during the 1997/98 season when he made several substitute appearances and impressed with his hard working play and strong passing ability, which was showcased during one league match at Derby County when, coming on as a substitute, almost with his first kick he made a fifty-yard lob pass to Leeds and future Cardiff City teammate Jimmy-Floyd Hasselbaink which some Leeds fans described as "one of the passes of the season" and Leeds cruised to an emphatic 5-0 away victory. He played as an attacking central midfield player but could play on the left as well and had a sweet left boot. He started to become a regular for the side during the 1999/00 season, after making several sub appearances, when he was given a long run in the first team squad and was rewarded with a new five-year contract at the Elland Road. During this time McPhail went on to break his scoring duck for Leeds that year when he scored twice in a League match against Chelsea at Stamford Bridge.The young Leeds team were in such good form and so mesmerized the Chelsea defenders that Leboeuf totally lost the plot and got a red card for a vicious assault on Leeds winger Harry Kewell. The Leeds team played so scintillating football and McPhail was regularly at the centre of it spraying the ball to all points of the ground at will. He received his first International call up in May 2000 when manager Mick McCarthy selected him in the squad for a match against Scotland. McPhail currently holds ten caps for the Republic of Ireland and has also played for the Ireland Under-Twenty-one side earlier in his career, however, he has not earned a full cap for Ireland since a match against Nigeria, in 2004. Due to some good form at Cardiff he had publicly declared his hopes of returning to the international scene due to the return of an Ireland ‘B’ team. In October 2006 he was named in the Ireland ‘B’ squad for a match against Scotland ‘B’and captained the side in a 0-0 draw. After David O’Leary left Leeds the club went on to have several different managers over the next few years and due to injuries he failed to break into the Leeds first team first under Terry Venables and later Peter Reid. During this period he spent time on loan at Millwall, where he had three games in March 2002, and Nottingham Forest, where he had fourteen League and two League Cup games in the three months from August 2003, in order to get some first team games. He nearly made his move to Forest permanent as both the player and the Forest manager felt the move would be beneficial to his career but the proposed move eventually broke down as Leeds were reluctant to let him leave. During his time at Leeds Stephen took part in the club's Champions League Semi-Final run, taking part in memeorable games against the likes of Barcelona and playing well against Lazio at Elland Road. He was reinstalled into the first team by Eddie Gray in his period as caretaker Manager. After Gray’s time finished with relegation, McPhail left Leeds in 2004 to sign for Barnsley on a free transfer. He spent two years at Barnsley where he was a vital part of the squad and was pivotal to the team that gained promotion to the CCCL via the League One play-offs. Had he stayed with Barnsley he would have been playing in the Championship the following year but instead he opted to leave the club. In his time at Oakwell, he played seventy League games, including four as a substitute, and scored four times. He also made two appearances in the FA Cup, three games in the League Cup, one as a substitute, and four more in the play-offs. Due to being out of contract he attracted interest from teams all over the Football League but on 13th June 2006 he signed for CCCL side Cardiff City on a free transfer. He was seen as a replacement for Jason Koumas when the club failed to secure his permanent transfer from West Bromwich Albion after he had spent the previous year on loan at Ninian Park. During his first season at Cardiff, he showed his potential, being ever-present in the starting line-up and in July 2007 he was rewarded with a new four-year contract at the club. Manager David Jones continued to show faith in the midfielder when, at the start of the 2007/08 season, he made McPhail temporary captain in the absence of normal captain Darren Purse and vice-captain Ricardo Scimeca. On 27th October 2007 he finally broke his scoring drought for Cardiff, in his fifty-fifth League game. He has since topped the one hundred appearances for the Bluebirds and captained them at Wembley in the 2008 FA Cup Final when they went down 1-0 to Portsmouth. He is currently the holder of ten full International caps for the Republic of Ireland and in May 2008, new Irish Manager Giovanni Trapattoni selected McPhail for his first squad for the friendly games against Serbia and Columbia.