Phil Bardsley

Phillip Anthony Bardsley (born 28 June 1985) is a former professional footballer who played as a full back.

He also played international football for the Scotland national team.

He is currently assistant manager of Macclesfield.

Bardsley began his career with Manchester United where he made 18 appearances in five seasons at the club.

During that time, he was loaned to several clubs, including Royal Antwerp, Burnley, Rangers, Aston Villa and Sheffield United.

After coming through the club's youth system, Bardsley was a regular in Manchester United's under-17 team from the 2000–01 season, before progressing to the under-19s from the 2002–03 season.

He continued in the under-19s in 2003–04, but appeared more frequently in the reserves before making his first-team debut in a 2–0 defeat to West Bromwich Albion on 3 December 2003 in the fourth round of the League Cup.

After returning to Manchester United at the end of 2003–04, Bardsley made three appearances on the club's 2004–05 pre-season tour of the United States, playing against Bayern Munich, Celtic and Milan.

He made a second appearance for the first team in the 3–0 FA Cup fourth round win over Northampton Town on 25 January 2004, before going on a four-month loan to Manchester United's Belgian feeder club, Royal Antwerp, on 30 January.

He made six appearances for Royal Antwerp, including a 4–0 defeat to Club Brugge on 8 February 2004, in which he was sent off for two bookable offences.

He made another promising start to the 2005–06 season, and an injury to Gary Neville gave him plenty of opportunities to play between August and November 2005.

He was regularly named as a substitute for much of the rest of the season, before going on loan to Championship club Burnley on 16 March 2006.

He played six matches and scored an own goal in the first minute of a 1–1 draw at home to Southampton.

Bardsley again made a significant contribution to Manchester United's pre-season programme in 2006–07, but on 16 August, he was sent out on loan again, this time to Scottish Premier League club Rangers.

On 9 September 2006, he scored his only goal for Rangers against Falkirk with a terrific long-range free kick.

He was sent off against Hibernian, and therefore missed the Old Firm match against Celtic.

On 17 October, it was reported that Bardsley was involved in a training ground disagreement with manager Paul Le Guen and his future at Rangers appeared to be in doubt.

Indeed, Bardsley never played for Rangers again and returned to Manchester United in December.

On 8 January 2007, Bardsley joined Aston Villa on loan until the end of the season and played his first Premier League match against Watford on 20 January.

It was announced on 1 May that Bardsley would be returning to Manchester United when his loan deal with Villa ran out as manager Martin O'Neill did not want to make the move permanent.

After playing what would turn out to be his last match for the Manchester United first team against Coventry City in the League Cup on 26 September 2007, it was confirmed on 15 October Bardsley would join Sheffield United on loan until January 2008.

He made his full debut for the Blades a few days later in a 1–1 draw with Preston North End at Bramall Lane.

Bardsley played 11 times under Roy Keane in 2007–08 as Sunderland successfully avoided relegation by three points.

He joined Sunderland in January 2008 for an initial fee of £850,000.

Despite Sheffield United agreeing a deal with Manchester United to sign him permanently, Bardsley left at the end of his loan deal in January 2008 after playing 16 matches.

On 22 January 2008, Bardsley joined Sunderland on a three-and-a-half-year contract in a deal worth an initial £850,000, potentially rising to £2 million.

He made his debut in a 2–0 win against Birmingham City in the Premier League on 29 January.

On 27 August 2008 Bardsley scored his first goal in English football in a 2–1 victory against Nottingham Forest in the League Cup.

Bardsley lost out to Pascal Chimbonda during the first half of the 2008–09 campaign before regaining his place in the team in November 2008.

He retained his place under Ricky Sbragia, playing in total 33 times in 2008–09 as Sunderland survived relegation on the final day of the season.

Bardsley established himself as a regular at the Stadium of Light under Steve Bruce and Martin O'Neill and he won the player of the year award in 2010–11.

He lost his place in the team in 2012–13 after a falling-out with manager Paolo Di Canio, before returning to the first team under Gus Poyet.

Under Poyet, Bardsley helped Sunderland to avoid relegation in 2013–14 and reach the 2014 Football League Cup final, in which they lost 3–1 to Manchester City.

After his Sunderland contract expired in June 2014, Bardsley joined Stoke City on a free transfer.

He spent three seasons with the club before joining Burnley in July 2017.

Bardsley ended his career at Stockport County.

Born at Hope Hospital in Salford, Bardsley attended Hope High School along with former United teammates Mark Redshaw and Mark Howard.

Bardsley started his career with Charlestown Lads Club also with Redshaw before signing for Manchester United.

He grew up near Manchester United's old training ground, The Cliff, and would often go there on his school holidays to watch the players train.

Prior to his departure for Sunderland, he was the only current player who progressed through all the levels of the academy, starting out at the club at the age of 8.