Sheffield Steelers captain Jonathan Phillips announces retirement ahead of new role in education

From the moment he was first signed to play for hometown team Cardiff Devils 24 years ago, it has been his life.

But come May, all that will change. All good things, as they say, come to an end.

The 40-year-old Sheffield Steelers’ captain – who has made 1,023 appearances since joining the club back in 2006 – is hanging up his skates, admitting it is time to join the ‘real world’, get a ‘real job’.

His time in South Yorkshire has seen him score 177 goals amid a total 486 points. He is the club’s seventh highest goalscorer and fifth in overall points with only Ron Shudra, Steve Nemeth, Jeff Legue and current team-mate Robert Dowd ahead of him.

He has lifted the league title four times, been a play-off winner on three occasions and, in 2020, he finally lifted his first Challenge Cup with the Steelers.

His decision is nothing to do with health, fitness or age, for Phillips believes he could play for another three or four years. But, by doing that, he believes he is just putting off the inevitable.

His move has been helped by the fact that he has landed a job he is extremely passionate about.

Of course, there is plenty to accomplish between now and early May, not least lifting some more silverware with the Steelers before pulling off what he hopes will be the perfect grand finale by helping Great Britain win promotion back to the top tier of the World Championships.

His love for playing meant coaching was never really an option that appealed to Phillips, but he will be using the leadership skills and experience he has accumulated over the years in his new role.

And that role, once that kit is packed away for good in three months time, will see Phillips become the inclusion manager for the Cavendish Learning Trust.

The Trust runs four schools, with Phillips being based at Netherthorpe School. There he will provide support for children aged from 2-18 who require additional support for their social and emotional needs.

They will be moved out of mainstream schooling to spend some time in the Trust's new integrated resource centre, managed by Phillips.

It is both exciting and daunting for Phillips in equal measure but it is a role which he has already been preparing for through working voluntarily one day a week at Netherthorpe since November.

“It’s something I’m really looking forward to,” said Phillips. “I’m going to miss the hell out of the life that I’ve had since I was 16 years old. It’s all I’ve known. But this is something I’m looking forward to and I believe I’ve got the skills to make it work. I think I can relate to some of these kids, too.

“It’s exciting because I’ve taken this huge leap and I’ve got this job – a job I wanted and one which I’ve got a lot of passion for.”

Dave Williams, CEO of the Cavendish Trust, said it was Phillips’s passion for the new role and his obvious ability to lead that made him stand out above the other candidates.

“The job is very much centred around his ability to develop relationships with the children,” said Williams. “The role is about supporting children with their social and emotional needs and what really shone through in his interview was how passionate he was about supporting and working with the children that he’s been supporting already.

“His leadership skills stood out ahead of everyone else, in terms of his ability to lead people and work with a wide range of people with lots of different personalities.”

His future assured, Phillips’ immediate aim will be to bow out of hockey on the perfect high.

“The next step is the realisation that playing this great sport is all going to be over at the end of this season,” added Phillips. “So I’m just waiting for that to hit me. Whether that comes during the season or in the summer I don’t know.

“But right now I’m loving where we are as a team, battling for these last two trophies, which is a great position to be in.

“That’s keeping me occupied , but it is also like a massive weight off my shoulders knowing that I have this great job to go into and that I’ve got a career after hockey doing something which I also have a massive passion for.

“Clearly the perfect send-off would be lifting silverware at least one more time with the Steelers, particularly that league title we haven’t won for a few years now.

“Then, to help GB get promotion back to the top tier of the World Championships would be the dream way to bow out.”