William 'Eric' Phoenix made a handful of appearances for Exeter City in the mid-1950s. He joined the club from Gillingham and later played for Dover.

Described as a "hard, grafting sort of player", Eric started his career with Manchester City before undertaking National Service. Subsequently joining Southern League Hastings United, he returned to the Football League with Gillingham in July 1954 where he scored two goals in 17 league outings.

Moving to Exeter City in June 1956, Eric made his debut for the Grecians in the 1-0 defeat at Norwich City in the fourth game of the season. Playing in the next three games, he soon lost his place and did not feature again until the match at Plymouth Argyle at the start of January 1957. With this proving to be his final first-team game, he was released at the end of the season and returned to the Southern League with Dover.

Eric died on 8 December 2000.