Premier League Golden Boot winner scored derby goal and had run-in with swearing granny

A Premier League Golden Boot winner has shared a hilarious encounter with an elderly woman in Greggs following a derby goal he once scored. Kevin Phillips, the ex-Sunderland sharpshooter and England international, appeared on the Undr The Cosh podcast to relive his illustrious career, from clinching the Golden Boot with the Black Cats to lifting the Championship trophy with a Leicester City squad destined for Premier League glory.

During the fiery Tyne-Wear derby at Newcastle in August 1999, Phillips etched his name into Sunderland folklore by chipping the ball over goalkeeper Tommy Wright, securing a historic win at St James' Park – their first since 1990.

Phillips recounted: "When I first went to Sunderland, I wasn't aware of how big the football club was and I certainly wasn't aware that the Sunderland/Newcastle rivalry was as big or as intense as it was.

"Sunderland hadn't won there for God knows how long but they were struggling at the time. Ruud Gullit [Newcastle manager], there were rumours that if he lost the game, he was going to get sacked the next morning.

"The atmosphere before that game, when the whole crowd was whistling, it was probably the most deafening I've heard it in a football stadium. It was incredible and I couldn't wait to get started.

"It was 1-1 when I got my opportunity to score, not to just score at St James' in a derby, but to score the type of goal that I scored, in front of our fans that were up in the gods. For me, that was just surreal and incredible.

"It's weird really. I'd scored, going into that game, like 60-plus goals already. But I still didn't feel I was like a legend. People were calling me a legend but I didn't feel like [a legend]. But until you score in the North-East derby, the winning goal, that's what makes you feel like it's the icing on the cake."

Phillips also felt the passion for the game the following day during a visit to a Greggs in Newcastle. He said: "Instead of just keeping my head down, the next day I went to Newcastle with my Mrs shopping.

"I fancied some food so I went to Greggs and I never really knew what f***ing Greggs was, being a southerner. But Jesus Christ, it was like there was a Greggs on every corner of the high street!

"Anyway, I'm queuing in this Greggs and I was minding my own business and trying to be a little bit sheepish. I get a tap on my shoulder, turn around and it was a little old lady. I thought, 'Ah I'm safe here then', and she just went, 'What the f*** you doing in here?' And I was like, 'What?'

"I honestly just went, 'Sorry?' And she went, 'What the f*** are you doing in here?' So I was like, 'Getting some food', and she said, 'After what you did last night, you shouldn't be in here'. I just thought I need to get my chicken bake and get out of here!"

Phillips was prolific for Sunderland in the late 1990s and early 2000s, winning the Premier League's Golden Boot during his spell at the Stadium of Light. He also collected a continental accolade, even if he didn't know much about it.

He said: "I received my award for the Premier League Golden Boot at the end of the season and then, about a week later, I got a call or an email off the club saying I'd won the European Golden Shoe. I was like, 'What is it?'

"I'd never even f***ing heard of it! They were like, 'You're the top goalscorer with league goals in the whole of Europe', and I was like, 'What?' I'd never had even heard that there was such a thing. Then they reeled off the people that have had it Shevchenko and people like that and I was like, 'Wow, brilliant'."

Phillips was set to be honoured at an awards bash in Zurich but was gutted when he realised a match clashed with the ceremony. He added: "They said they wanted me to go to an awards at the beginning of next season on a Tuesday night in Zurich, I think it was. I was like, 'Yeah, of course, I'd be honoured to go and sit with all of these big names'.

"I was gutted though as we had a game on the Tuesday night. I couldn't go over to the awards so they brought the boot over to me and presented it to me pitch-side before the game. I would've liked to have gone to the awards to sit next to some serious players."