"Young Jevons was terrific in holding the ball up for the side. He also defended well for a forward. On that performance, he showed a maturity which you wouldn't think was possible for a lad of his age."
During the 1997-98 season, Phil Jevons consolidated his position in the reserves, but found it hard to break into the first-team squad behind Danny Cadamarteri and Mickael Madar. Under Walter Smith, the closest he came for a long while was warming the bench at Nottingham Forest. He did, however, go on to win the FA Youth Cup with an Academy site that included Francis Jeffers, Richard Dunne, Tony Hibbert and Leon Osman.
A professional contract signed in September 1998 should be a good vote of confidence in the young striker, who finally made an appearance the first team at Blackburn Rovers, when Nick Barmby went off injured in the first half.
And that was all we got to see of young Jevons. He continued to score freely for the reserves during 1998-99, being involved in all but one of their 24 matches, starting 22 of them, and scoring in half. But still not enough to impress the conservative and cautious Walter Smith, who finally gave him a start in the Worthington Cup the following season at home to Oxford United – a match pointlessly thrown away by excessive squad rotation. The reason, ostensibly, was to protect against injury, but really it just proved (as if that were necessary) what a woefully thin squad Smith had at his disposal.
The striker injury crises of Spring 2000 was well advanced before Walter Smith finally gambled on Phil Jevons, giving him a start against relegation strugglers Bradford City, and in the final match against Middlesbrough – where Jevons was pulled off after a very disappointing first half.
It was a long, long time – well into the next dire season – before Jevons got another chance. Smith finally relenting as the chronic injury crisis cut him down to just 11 senior players before he even gave Jevons a seat on the bench. An early injury to Niclas Alexandersson at Coventry forced the manager's hand and Jevons made it tell with his first real touch, setting up Kevin Campbell for the third and winning goal.
More sub appearances followed at Man Utd, Ipswich and Chelsea, where Phil did what was expected of him, but failed to score. It was obviously insufficient to impress manager Walter Smith, who was loath to give the tall striker a start – even in the depths of a crippling injury crisis.
Something was obviously lacking in Phil's attitude to the Blues and it was finally revealed as he admitted to being a lifelong Liverpool fan when he was sold on to Grimsby Town in July 2001 for just £150k (possibly rising to £250k on appearances).
Having had a long association with Everton, there was perhaps a little disappointment in having to leave in search of first team football, but the telling statement was: "I'm not too passionate about Everton." No kidding!
He was offered a two-year deal at Goodison, but knew that would have meant more reserves football. By all accounts, he is unlikely to be the one who comes back to haunt us... until we play Grimsby in the League Cup!
Soon after he left, he returned to Liverpool with Grimsby Town and scoring a sensational winning goal at Anfield in the League Cup, October 2009.
At 32 in 2011, and playing with Morecambe in League Two, Jevons looked back on his time at Everton, and insists he has no regrets about leaving.
“It was a difficult time for the club, if I am honest,” he says. “The side were struggling, and Walter was reluctant to blood too many young players in a struggling side – which is right, of course.
“Whenever we played at Goodison, it was really anxious, and to throw youngsters into that kind of atmosphere would have been irresponsible.
“By the end, I had been in and around the first team for three years, and it was time to move on. Footballers need to play, and that was that. It had to be done.”
Jevons has since returned to Goodison, working with the club’s under-9s side as part of his FA Coaching Badges course two years ago. He remains in contact with Hall – “a massive influence on my career” – and U18s coach Neil Dewsnip, and intends to pursue that career path when his playing days come to an end.
Last updated: 01 December 2008