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Saturday, December 21, 2013

Bulls Advent Calendar - No.21


Number 21 on the Bulls Advent Calendar is the Phillips family.



Archie Phillips joined the club's board in March 1977, with son Stewart debuting for the Bulls - as a 16 year old - 13 months later. While Archie looked after the club and the stadium, Stewart took care of the goalscoring.

Archie, a self made millionaire, was already into his seventh decade when he joined the board but it didn't stop him mucking in at the cash strapped club. He would often work on the pitch, becoming the unofficial groundsman and occasionally dragging his own lawn roller to the ground attached to his beloved Rolls Royce. 

It looked ridiculous but Archie didn't care. He loved the club, even if you couldn't get him to admit it to a crowd. His companies provided the steel for the Merton Stand extension, and he was coy on whether the club ever paid for it. He left the board in 1991, at the age of 75, continuing to watch the club from his seat in the VP Club.


On the pitch, Stewart became the club's record League goalscorer, and was eventually sold to West Brom after seven years as a first team regular. After a spell with Swansea, he returned to the Bulls for one more season. He left, aged 29, for Wrexham and Aldershot before short spells in the non-league game.

Stewart returned to Hereford and remains a Bulls fan and shareholder to this day. Archie died, aged 88, in 2004.