Phil Baker reaches landmark 400th appearance
27 Aug 2011

Phil Baker made his 400th appearance for the Salvation Army Football Club at long last. Badly injured playing in his 399th game back on 20th November 2010 and requiring knee surgery, Bakes or Shaker as he is affectionately known, managed to reach the milestone to become only the fourth Army player to reach such an achievement. He now joins such illustrious names in the clubs history as Mark Harvey, Mark Cross and Paul Salmon, and it was Club Chairman Mark Cross who was delighted to present Phil with a silver salver to commemorate the event.

When Mark Cross received his 400th appearance salver  Baker joked that he would never reach 400 appearances. The fact that he done so goes to demonstrate the fantastic service he has shown the club and it could have been more had it not been for spells at Stonham Aspal and Meadlands and of course injuries. However to view Phil Baker’s contribution to the club simply as a loyal servant judged in appearances alone would be a great injustice to an individual whose place in the clubs history has long been assured due to his many influences.

Making his debut aged 14, Phil has continually brought players to the club and is responsible for enhancing it with longer term outcomes that could scarcely be conceived when he brought the likes of Danny Reynolds and Sam Rogers to the club who went on to write their own pages in the clubs history by becoming Managers of the club, with Reynolds now acknowledged as the most successful, and incumbent Manager Rogers planning to better him. He was also responsible for bringing in Ian ‘Wings’ Simmons who is now one of the main figures in the Army’s Youth set up.

At 36, Baker can now look back at the wealth of talent he has brought to the club and also reflect on his own personal footballing achievements within the club with some pride.  Fourth in the all time club appearances table and third in the first team version and sitting third in both the club and first team goalscorers table. Peer recognition is the height of a players awards and Phil has been voted Players Player of the Year twice, sixteen years apart, with the first being awarded in the 1993/94 and the latter in the 2009/10 season demonstrating that form may be temporary but class is permanent.  It hasn’t just been his fellow players that recognised his contribution on the pitch. To commemorate the clubs 20th season a celebratory ’Match of Legends’ was held at the home of Stowmarket Town Football Club during which Phil was named as one of the players in the clubs greatest ever team by a selection panel of three of the clubs founding players, something Phil was very pleased with.

How many more games can Baker’s body withstand is hard to tell. What isn’t hard to tell is the effect he has had on the club and all associated with it hopes that remains for a very long time to come.