It has yet to be officially confirmed but early last week several sources broke with the news that striker Chris McPhee had been released by the club. McPhee made 7 league appearances for the Seagulls this season and had been at the club since 1999.
Locally born McPhee joined the club as a trainee in 1999. His first team debut came much earlier than expected when he was thrust into the match day squad for the away match at Swansea in December 1999 due to an outbreak of Flu in the squad. McPhee, who was only 16, came on in the 83rd minute for Warren Aspinall. He made a further three subsitute appearances that season.
Summer 2000 saw Micky Adams significantly bolster the Seagulls squad and McPhee returned to the youth and reserve sides, not featuring at all in the first team in the 3rd Divison Championship Season.
He finally returned to competitive action as a 76th minute substitute in the October 2001 2-1 victory over Wycombe in the Football League Trophy. Boundary Park saw one of the darker moments of Albion’s 2nd Division title season, and Bobby Zamora was sent off late on in the 2-0 defeat. Then Albion manager Peter Taylor had recently offloaded strikers Dirk Lehmann and Scott Ramsay, so during Zamora’s suspension he handed McPhee his first league start, in a dour 0-0 draw against Wrexham at Withdean. He also started the following week, in a 1-1 stalemate against Bournemouth at Dean Court. Initial opinions on McPhee were mixed and when Zamora was next unavailable, Taylor opted to bring in Wayne Gray on loan.
Youth may have been the focus of Martin Hinshelwood’s brief spell in charge, but McPhee found himself behind fellow youth team graduates Dean Marney and Shaun Wilkinson and only made 3 substitute appearances. Once Steve Coppell took over in October of that year, McPhee didn’t get a look in as the new manager looked to experience to guide the side to safety.
Pre season 2003/04 saw McPhee turn in some encouraging displays and with the departure of Zamora, Paul Kitson and Paul Brooker, it appeared attacking places were up for grabs. Coppell commented that he was impressed with his attitude and performances, but still wasn’t entirely sure if the player was ready. For this reason, he brought in Darius Henderson on loan from Reading. Henderson was cup tied for the first round of the Carling Cup against Bristol Rovers, handing McPhee a chance to impress. He grabbed the opportunity with both hands and scored with an excellent over head kick.
Henderson made an erratic start to his time on loan which saw sections of the Withdean crowd call into question his commitment to the cause. Some began to call for McPhee to take his first team place, which increased following McPhee scoring his first league goal for the club against Sheffield Wednesday on 20th September. Henderson then picked up an injury which saw McPhee start the 3-1 victory at Rushden at the end of the month.
Coppell gave a vote of confidence to the striker by leaving Henderson on the bench for the game against Blackpool, which turned out to be the scouser’s last game in charge. McPhee repaid this faith by scoring 2 well worked goals.
Despite the change in management, McPhee remained a first team regular throughout the winter of 2003, picking a few goals up along the way. He found his place under threat early in 2004 as Mark McGhee began searching for a different type of striker to partner Leon Knight. This saw both Trevor Benjamin and Chris Iwelumo feature as the Seagulls gained promotion via the play-offs.
Bad luck struck during the summer of 2004 as McPhee picked up an injury which caused him to miss the opening games of the season. He quickly returned to the first team as a substitute against Watford in September, but found it hard to cement a place in McGhee’s plans as several striking options were tried.
He began 2005/06 on loan at Aldershot, suggesting his Albion future was bleak. However he returned to the Albion first team in November as McGhee searched desperately for an effective forward line. Once again he was unable to make a breakthrough into the side and found himself loaned out to League One Swindon on deadline day 2006. There had been talk of a permanent move to the club, but there has since been managerial upheaval at the Robins which could have scuppered this.
The departure of Chris McPhee may be welcomed by some, who wish for a leaner trimmed squad for 2006/07, but many will be sad to see him go. He always gave 100% whenever selected and it is a shame he appeared to lack that little extra required for this level. We wish him all the best for the future and thank him for his dedication and commitment to the club over the past 7 years.
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