28-year-old midfielder Tom Phipp’s early days were with the Arsenal youth team before being released and bursting onto the scene at Ebbsfleet United in 2010 as a 17-year-old, catching the eye in the Conference South. He was one of four players kept on by manager Steve Brown following Fleet’s take-over by Kuwaiti consortium KEH Sports Limited in June 2013. Phipp was sent on loan to Maidstone United in November 2013 before being sold to Isthmian Premier League Margate in February 2014 for a four-figure fee. A season and a half later he moved to Tonbridge Angels, again in the Isthmian Premier League, in June 2015. From July 2017 he took time out from football to start a career in marketing after taking his degree. After a spell at SCEFL Premier Crowborough Athletic, he signed for Cray Wanderers in the summer of 2018 helping them win the Isthmian South East title in 2018/19. Injuries restricted him during the 2019/20 season, but he still made 16 appearances and was part of the team which was unbeaten in 2020 up to lockdown. The following campaign, when the Isthmian Premier was suspended in November 2020, Phipp re-joined Tonbridge Angels, appearing in a 1-0 win away at Ebbsfleet but the National South soon went the same way with a curtailed season. Tom will be joining the Herne Bay squad for the 21/22 season.

First team manager, Ben Smith, had this to say on the most recent signing: "Tom is a great addition to our squad, he’s got all the ingredients that we have been looking to add for some time and will really complement what we have.
It’s another addition that has a wealth of experience and knows what it takes to be apart of a successful team."

We also caught up with the new signing himself who told us:
"It’s great to set sail into The Bay!

There’s some great bits of work going on behind the scenes that will help propel the club forwards, and after the various late-night phone calls with Ben and Stuart, it made complete sense for me to join them at a really ambitious time for the club. The club, management and all other staff have a clear direction mapped out.

After a couple of dead-end seasons, there is going to be a lot of ambitious clubs, players and management teams ready to take on the new campaign, and I believe Herne Bay falls right into the category. I’m really looking forward to joining the group at this exciting time. Bring on the new season."

Everyone at the club wishes Tom the best and we are all excited to see you play, when football returns.