Phelan: Terence Michael (Terry)

1983-1986 (Player Details)

Left Back

Born: Manchester: 16-03-1967

Debut: v Shrewsbury Town (a): 07-09-1985

5’8” 10 st 0lb (1986)

A product of Cathedral High School, Manchester, Phelan represented Salford and Greater Manchester Schools but qualified to play for Ireland as his mother was Irish. He joined Leeds from school in 1983 and won Under-Twenty-one and Youth honours before turning professional in August 1984. One of many exciting young players produced by Eddie Gray he had just started to establish himself in the team when Gray was sacked. New boss Billy Bremner purged Leeds of many fine Gray products and Phelan was just one of many who found much fame away from Leeds. He was freed in in May 1986 and joined Swansea City. After an excellent season with the Swans, where he was almost an ever-present with forty-five League appearances, he signed for First Division Wimbledon for £100,000 in July 1987. At Plough Lane he joined John Scales, a former Leeds junior who played alongside Phelan at Elland Road. Phelan played in Wimbledon’s 1988 FA Cup winning side and Scales, who joined the Dons via Bristol Rovers, came on as a substitute. Scales later went on to play for Liverpool and England, while Phelan made his mark with the Republic in the 1992 World Cup as a pacey left-back. He stayed at Plough Lane for five years, making one hundred and fifty-five League starts and four more from the bench and scoring one goal. By this time he was in the £2.5 million class, signing for Manchester City on 25th August 1992. There was a further one hundred and three League games for City, including one from the bench and again just the one goal. A fee of £900,000 saw him move to Chelsea on 15th November 1995. His stay at Stamford Bridge was injury plagued and full of conflict with Manager Ruud Gullit so he only managed thirteen starts and two off the bench in his almost fourteen month stay and he left for Everton on 1st January 1997 for a fee of £850,000. Bought as a replacement for the seriously injured and very popular Andy Hinchcliffe, he had just started to win over the Goodison fans when injury again struck in November 1997. He was out of the team for the rest of the season and almost the entire 1998-99 season. Finally, after 18 months out, he regained match fitness with forty-five minutes in the reserves, only to be sent off for handling against Aston Villa Reserves. Although he regained match fitness for the start of the 1999-2000 season, Terry Phelan was not used much in the opening games, making one sub appearance and one Worthington Cup appearance before he was again laid low by another injury. When that finally cleared up in October, he was farmed out to Crystal Palace for a month's loan on 23rd October 1999, where he managed fourteen matches with seemingly no ill-effects as his loan was subsequently extended, while Walter Smith continued his controversial policy of playing centre-backs in the full-back positions. After proving his fitness and showing excellent form at Selhurst Park, Phelan felt let down by the club when not allowed to play for the first team for tactical reasons and he left Goodison on a free and joined Fulham on 3rd February 2000. He was part of the Fulham team which won promotion to the EPL in 2001. However, Phelan was released by Fulham following promotion having played nineteen League games, including one as a substitute and getting two goals. He moved to Sheffield United on 10th August 2001 and started eight League games before deciding to try football in the USA with Chatterston Battery and managed thirty-nine games in his spell there. He moved to New Zealand as Player-Manager of Otago United but his appearances on the pitch diminished as the years progressed. He remained as the coach but as the teams results grew worse so his position weakened until after four years he gave way to his Assistant coach, Malcolm Fleming as Phelan took over the club's youth team and was also placed in charge of the primary schools development programme. Phelan represented the Republic of Ireland at all levels except as a schoolboy, as he was educated in Manchester, playing at Youth, and once each at Under-Twenty-one, Under-Twenty-three and ‘B’ level to go with his forty-two full caps. He represented the Republic in the 1994 World Cup.