Ashley Phillips

Centre-back Ashley Phillips joined us from Blackburn Rovers in August, 2023.

He spent the second half of the 2023/24 season on loan at Plymouth Argyle, where he made 16 appearances in the Championship. On the bench seven times for the first team in 2023/24 without making his debut, Ashley featured in our post-season friendly against Newcastle United at Melbourne's MCG, where he came off the bench for the second half.

The teenage defender started his youth career at National League North side Curzon Ashton before joining Blackburn as a 12-year-old in 2017. The defender quickly progressed through the Rovers academy, featuring regularly for the Under-18s aged just 15 and making his Under-23s debut the following season.

In 2021/22, he went on to make 11 appearances in the Premier League 2 and spent most of the campaign training with the first team squad, making the bench for their FA Cup third round tie at Wigan Athletic in January, 2022.

Ashley’s first team debut came in a Carabao Cup fourth round win over Hartlepool United in August, 2022 – becoming the fourth youngest player in Blackburn’s history at 17 years and 45 days – before he made his Championship debut against West Bromwich Albion a few days later.

He went on to make eight first team appearances in the league and a further six in cup competitions last term, with further recognition coming at the end of the 2022/23 season when he was awarded the LFE Championship Apprentice of the Season.

On the international stage, Ashley has represented England at Under-17, Under-18 and Under-19 levels to date, and was named in England's Elite League squad in March, 2024.