Phil Holder

Phil Holder
Personal information
Full namePhilip Holder
Date of birth19 January 1952
Place of birthKilburn, Greater London
Playing positionMidfielder
Youth career
–Tottenham Hotspur
Senior career*
YearsTeamApps†(Gls)†
1969–1974Tottenham Hotspur13(1)
1974–1978Crystal Palace95(5)
1978Memphis Rogues24(1)
1978–1980A.F.C. Bournemouth58(4)
–Tonbridge
Teams managed
1990–1993Brentford
* Senior club appearances and goals counted for the domestic league only.
† Appearances (Goals).

Philip "Phil" Holder (born 19 January 1952) is an English former association football player and manager. As player, he made more than 150 appearances in the Football League representing Tottenham Hotspur, Crystal Palace and A.F.C. Bournemouth, and played in the North American Soccer League for the Memphis Rogues.[1] As manager, he took charge of Brentford for three seasons.[2]

Career

Holder was born in Kilburn, London. He began his football career as an apprentice with Tottenham Hotspur in 1969 and remained with the club for five years. He played only 13 times in the Football League, but played six games in European competition,[3] including a substitute appearance in the second leg of the 1974 UEFA Cup Final.[4] He joined Crystal Palace in 1974, and played 112 games in all competitions for the club,[5] before spending a summer in the North American Soccer League with the Memphis Rogues.[6] He returned to England and spent two seasons with A.F.C. Bournemouth in the Fourth Division before ending his playing career,[1] to go into coaching.

Holder then took up coaching, with clubs including Crystal Palace.[7] He was appointed assistant to Brentford manager Steve Perryman in the late 1980s,[8] and when Perryman resigned, Holder was confirmed as his successor in September 1990 after a spell in temporary charge.[9] He guided them to the Third Division play-offs that season, only for the team to lose to Tranmere Rovers in the semi-final over two legs. In first leg at Griffin Park, a last minute equaliser from Kevin Godfrey gave Brentford hope,[10] but later the same week, a 1–0 defeat at Prenton Park gave Tranmere the overall tie 3–2 on aggregate.[11]

As a coach Holder will be best remembered for his success during the 1991–92 season. He guided a Brentford side spearheaded by prolific striker Dean Holdsworth to the Third Division title and gained them a place in the new Division One. With six matches of the season left, Holder told the players that they needed to win them all: they did so.[12][13] On Boxing Day 1992, Brentford went 10th in Division One and were just three points short of the playoff zone. Holder was voted Manager of the Month for the division,[14] and there was much speculation as to whether Brentford could mount a challenge for promotion to the Premiership. But a sharp decline set in and defeat in the final game of the season condemned "The Bees" to relegation to Division Two.[12] Holder was sacked three days later.[15]

In July 1993 he briefly joined Watford as Perryman's assistant,[16] then assisted Peter Taylor at Southend United,[17] and coached at Reading,[18] before linking up with Perryman yet again in 1999, this time in Japan as assistant manager of J.League side Shimizu S-Pulse.[19]

Honours

As a manager

Brentford

As an individual

References

  1. ↑ 1.0 1.1 "Phil Holder". UK A–Z Transfers. Neil Brown. Retrieved 20 November 2009.
  2. ↑ "Phil Holder's managerial career". Soccerbase. Centurycomm. Retrieved 20 November 2009.
  3. ↑ "A–Z of Players". Tottenham Hotspur F.C. Retrieved 20 November 2009.
  4. ↑ Ross, James M (9 January 2008). "European Competitions 1973–74". RSSSF. Retrieved 20 November 2009.
  5. ↑ "Appearances". Crystal Palace F.C. Retrieved 10 October 2013.
  6. ↑ "North American Soccer League: F–J". National Soccer Hall of Fame. Retrieved 20 November 2009.
  7. ↑ "Cannon gives his support as Gradi makes changes". The Times. 28 January 1981. p. 12.
  8. ↑ "Chelsea await appeal result" (REPRINT). The Times (NewsBank). 12 August 1988. Retrieved 20 November 2009.
  9. ↑ Blackmore, Keith (1 October 1990). "Optimistic Brentford in the hunt" (REPRINT). The Times (NewsBank). Retrieved 20 November 2009.
  10. ↑ Blackmore, Keith (20 May 1991). "Substitute saves Brentford" (REPRINT). The Times (NewsBank). Retrieved 20 November 2009.
  11. ↑ "Brentford 1990/1991 results and fixtures". Soccerbase. Centurycomm. Retrieved 20 November 2009.
  12. ↑ 12.0 12.1 "Brentford FC". Brentford F.C. Retrieved 20 November 2009.
  13. ↑ "Brentford 1991/1992 results and fixtures". Soccerbase. Centurycomm. Retrieved 20 November 2009.
  14. ↑ "Manchester City to sign Norwegian midfielder". New Straits Times. 3 January 1993. p. 18.
  15. ↑ Pike, Keith (12 May 1993). "Webb's brief reign brought to an end" (REPRINT). The Times (NewsBank). Retrieved 20 November 2009.
  16. ↑ Metcalf, Rupert & Cole, Robert (10 July 1993). "Football: Watford turn to Roeder to replace Perryman". The Independent. Retrieved 20 November 2009.
  17. ↑ "Sporting Digest: Football". The Independent. 21 June 1994. Retrieved 20 November 2009.
  18. ↑ "No headline". The Independent. 10 July 1996. Retrieved 20 November 2009.
  19. ↑ Dillon, Andrew (15 April 2000). "Where are they now?" (REPRINT). The Sun (NewsBank). Retrieved 20 November 2009.

External links