Hailed as potentially Britain's 'first £10million player' by former World Cup winner Alan Ball - Martin 'Buster' Phillips didn't quite live up to that tag - but the talented winger still enjoyed a decent career nonetheless.
Buster started his career with his hometown club Exeter City and made his debut during the 1992-93 season against Wigan Athletic, whilst Ball was in charge at St James Park.
After signing his first professional contract in 1994, he emerged as a stand-out performer in a Grecians' side who only avoided relegation from the Football League in the 1994-95 season due to Macclesfield Town's Moss Rose ground not meeting league requirements.
In the 1995-96 campaign, he was regarded as one of the brightest talents in the lower divisions, as evidenced by his injury time winner against Fulham in September 1995. Two months later, Ball, who was now manager of Manchester City, paid the Grecians £500,000 to bring him to Maine Road; it would remain the highest transfer fee that Exeter City received for a player until Matt Grimes joined Swansea City in January 2015.
However, Manchester City's subsequent decline (they were relegated from the Premier League in 1995-96 and were then relegated from Division One in 1997-98), a bloated first team squad (at one stage they had over 40 professionals on their books) and several changes of manager (Ball was sacked in 1996 and Steve Coppell, Frank Clark and Joe Royle all tried to arrest their decline) meant Buster only 15 appearances in three years.
A loan spell with Scunthorpe United and a return to the Grecians on loan followed before he was reunited with Ball at Portsmouth in the summer of 1998, as Pompey paid £100,000 for his services.
Two years later, Buster returned to Devon on a permanent basis when Kevin Hodges paid Pompey £25,000 to sign him for Plymouth Argyle ahead of the 2000-01 campaign. Early in the season, Hodges was dismissed and replaced by Paul Sturrock.
Under Sturrock, the Pilgrims won the Division Three title in the 2001-02 season, with Buster a key performer. He also made a contribution to the Argyle who won the Division Two title two years later before he was released in the summer of 2004 and signed for Torquay United, who had just won promotion to the newly rebranded League One under Leroy Rosenior.
In his first season at Plainmoor, 2004-05, the Gulls were relegated back down to League Two after losing on the final day of the campaign at Colchester United. His second season, 2005-06, saw United reach the third round of the FA Cup, where they lost to Birmingham City after a replay, and complete a memorable 'great escape' under Ian Atkins - winning four in a row before drawing 0-0 with Boston United in their last game; Buster scored the only goal of the game in the second of their four-match winning run at home to Wrexham.
Sadly the 2006-07 season proved to be his last in professional football as he forced to retire after being diagnosed with chronic fatigue syndrome.
After coaching in Argyle's Centre of Excellence, he later joined the FA Skills programme in 2010 and currently lives in Somerset, where he runs his own coaching business that specialises in teaching PE in Primary Schools.
