While still at primary school and barely into his teens, Phiri began following his two elder brothers to training sessions at Luanshya amateur side Buseko FC.
[1] After a spell in the reserves, Phiri was promoted to the first team the following year and he made an immediate impact, more than holding his own among players like Chanda, Stone Chibwe, Brighton Sinyangwe, Moses Simwala and Mark Masumbuko.
This caused some friction between the two clubs, but it proved to be a shrewd move as the team clinched the Division II title and won promotion to the top league.
[3] At ZAF, he linked up with players like Ghost Mulenga, Aaron Njovu, Martin Besa, System Chilongo, Sandra Phiri, Fanny Hangunyu and John Zyambo and helped transform Arrows into a formidable outfit.
In 1986, Arrows went on a poor run and at the half-way stage, were rooted to the bottom of the 12 team table with 7 points from 11 matches, a situation which saw their fans riot in protest.
[6] He got his intermediate certificate in 1989 in Germany in 1991, the changing economic climate saw Arrows being demoted to Division I and the ZAF top brass made the decision to disband the team.
Phiri found himself at Queensmead Stadium in 1994 first as Obby Kapita's assistant at Lusaka Dynamos before taking over the reins in 1995 and took them to second place on the Super Division log – their best performance ever.
When Zambia arrived in the West African country, their hosts had only arranged transportation for the players so the coaching and administrative staff had to hire scooters to ferry them to the hotel, which turned out to be sub-standard.
On their way to the pitch, fans poured a white substance on the Zambian players which turned out to be itching powder,[7] and also showered them with missiles so a number of them were injured and had to be attended to while the national anthems were being played.
He continued as coach but only for two games more for when Zambia lost a COSAFA Cup semi-final to Malawi on penalties in Blantyre, Phiri was fired and replaced by Kalusha Bwalya.
[9] Zambia disappointed yet again at CAN 2006, exiting at the group stage after losing the first two games to Tunisia and Guinea before restoring some pride in the southern African derby against South Africa.
This time, Phiri delivered as Zambia shocked South Africa in Cape Town 3–1, thanks to a 20-minute hat-trick by Christopher Katongo and won the group despite tying on points, thanks to a better head-to-head record.
After the defeat, the South Africans showed a misunderstanding of the rules by claiming that they had won their group due to their better goal difference and it was later clarified that their qualification was by virtue of being one of the three best-second placed teams.
[15] Although Tana was allowed to join up with the team, he was not on the final list of players submitted to the CAF and he consequently flew back home, infuriated by his futile trip.
'[16][17] Without his star striker and his key defender, Phiri led the Chipolopolo to a 3–0 win over Sudan in the first game but a 5–1 debacle to Cameroun which was characterised by schoolboy defensive errors, put paid to Zambia's hopes of progressing from the group.
[18] When the management of Zambian Premier League Promotion side NAPSA Stars (formerly Profund Warriors) approached Phiri, their vision for the club appealed to him and he signed up as coach with Peter Kaumba as his assistant.
[20] Phiri then joined Green Buffaloes in February 2013 and led them to a top six finish though he resigned the following season and had a brief stint as Namibia's Technical Advisor before returning to Simba in August 2014.
[28] He then quit Rangers in January 2017 to rejoin Lusaka Dynamos who had only survived relegation after the number of teams in the FAZ Super League were increased, but were under new management and had spent big on both local and foreign players in an ambitious project to dominate Zambian football.
[29] A fifth-place finish at the end of the season was viewed as not matching the club's ambition so Phiri parted company with Dynamos to return to Mazabuka in his 16th coaching appointment and announced that he was aiming to win the league title with Leopards.