Phil Picken’s biography, net worth, fact, career, awards and life story

Philip James “Phil” Picken (born 12 November 1985) is an English former footballer who played as a defender and midfielder, having played for Manchester United, Chesterfield, Notts County and Bury during ten–year of his professional career.
He joined Manchester United as a junior and was a member of the club’s reserve team that won the quadruple in 2005. Picken retired from football on 30 April 2014 after failing to recover from two serious knee injuries.

Career

Manchester United

Born in Droylsden, England, Picken started his football career at Manchester United as a junior after being spotted playing in a small six-a-side tournament in Radcliffe. At first, Picken rejected to join Manchester United, due to a boyhood Manchester City supporter but an intervention from his mother persuaded him to do so.

Picken went on to spent ten years at the club’s academy and was a member of the club’s reserve team that won the quadruple in 2005. Shortly after, Picken signed his first professional contract with the club. After returning from a loan spell at Chesterfield, Picken was among four players to be released by the club at the end of the 2005–06 season.

Chesterfield

Picken played for Chesterfield on a loan basis from 18 August 2005 until the end of December.

Two days later, on 20 August 2005, Picken made his Chesterfield debut, where he made his first start for the club and played 90 minutes, in a 4–1 loss against Oldham Athletic. Subsequently, Picken’s loan spell with Chesterfield was extended until the end of the season despite playing nine matches. After extending his loan spell at Chesterfield, Picken then established himself in the first team and scored his first Chesterfield goal on 1 April 2006, in a 3–1 loss against Nottingham Forest. Picken later finished the 2005–06 season, making thirty–two appearance and scoring once.

On 25 May 2006, Picken later joined the club on a permanent basis, signing a two–year contract. Picken’s first game after signing for the club on a permanent basis came in the opening game of the season, where he made his first start, in a 3–0 win over Bournemouth. Picken began playing from a left–back position to right–back position, as the season progresses and then scored his first Chesterfield goal on 17 February 2007, in a 3–0 win over Port Vale. Despite suspension and injury, Picken made 39 appearance and scoring once in his first full season at Chesterfield.

In the 2007–08 season saw Picken found himself competing over a right–back position with Jamie Lowry. However, during the season, Picken suffered ankle injury and hand injury that required operation. Despite the injury, Picken made 37 appearances for Chesterfield in the 2007–08 season and was offered a new contract by the club. It was announced on 4 June 2008 that Picken signed a contract with the club, keeping until 2010.

However, in the 2008–09 season, Picken soon fell out favour by Manager Lee Richardson and was told by the Manager to fight for the first team place. Picken was frozen out of the first team at the start of the season until being recalled to the first team against Gillingham on 6 December 2008.

When the January transfer window opened, Picken was consequently loaned out to Notts County on a one month deal. Picken made his Notts County debut two days on 10 January 2009, where he made his first start and playing 90 minutes, in a 2–1 win over Exeter City. Three weeks later on 31 January 2009, Picken played against his parent club, Chesterfield, having been given permission to play against them and lost 1–0. Shortly after, Picken’s loan spell with Notts County was extended until the end of the season. Picken established himself in the first team at Notts County and went on to make twenty–two appearance for the club. At the end of the season, the club and Picken, himself, keen to sign for the club on a permanent basis. However, Picken didn’t sign for the club on a permanent basis, as the club signed Brendan Moloney on loan instead.

However, the Spireites’ manager was sacked at the end of the season and new manager, John Sheridan gave the whole squad a clean slate and Picken soon became the first choice right back at Saltergate again. However, Picken suffered injuries once again throughout the 2009–10 season. Despite this, Picken went on to make twenty–one appearance for the club.

At the end of the 2009–10 season, Picken was released by the club.

Bury

After leaving the club, Picken went on trial at Bury and after impressing at the trial, Picken signed for on a free transfer on 4 August 2010, signing a one–year contract.

Picken made his Bury debut, making his first start and playing 90 minutes, in a 1–0 loss against Port Vale in the opening game of the season on 7 August 2010. Three weeks later on 28 August 2010, Picken then provided an assist for Ryan Lowe to score Bury’s only goal in the game, in a 1–1 draw against Barnet. Though he became a first team regular at Bury, making thirty–eight appearance for the club, Picken suffered suspension and injuries including suffering a hamstring injury that kept him out for the rest of the season. Despite Picken achieved promotion from League 2 with Bury as Runners up in the league in May 2011. At the end of the 2010–11 season, Picken’s contract with Bury was extended for another year.

The 2011–12 season saw Picken returning to the first team from injury and made his first appearance for the club since April, in a 1–1 draw against Huddersfield Town in the opening game of the season on 6 August 2011. Picken managed to regain his first team place and was awarded a contract, keeping him until 2014. Picken continued to do so, as the season progressed until being dropped from the first team in mid-March, due to a mistake against Carlisle United that saw Bury lost 4–1. Despite this, Picken made thirty–seven appearance for the club in the 2011–12 season.

However, in the 2012–13 season, Picken suffered a knee injury in a game against Preston North End in September 2012 and was subsequently ruled out for the rest of the season, with Bury suffering relegation in his absence. On 28 May 2013 it was announced that Picken would miss the entire 2013–14 season following further setbacks with his injury. Because of this, he was not allocated a squad number ahead of the 2013–14 season. After failing to recover from his injury, Picken announced his retirement from professional football in May 2014.