Kevin Phillips vows to increase the pressure on old Sunderland pal Niall Quinn
Published 23:00 19/03/10 By James Nursey
Kevin Phillips reckons running Sunderland has turned his old strike-partner Niall Quinn grey - and intends to increase his pal’s stress today.
Phillips and Quinn formed a famous little and large partnership upfront for Sunderland from 1997-2002.
Super Kev’s haul of 113 goals in 208 games even earned the 5ft 7in hitman eight England caps.
Phillips,36, left Sunderland in August 2003 to join Southampton and ended up at Birmingham in July 2008 via spells with Aston Villa and West Brom.
But Quinn’s admiration for Phillips remains so high he tried to re-sign the striker in August 2006 when he left Villa for local rivals Albion.
Dad of four Phillips apologised to Black Cats chairman Quinn for opting to stay in the midlands with his family instead.
He returns to the Stadium of Light today with Brum chasing his 250th goal as a professional.
But Phillips has vowed not to celebrate out of respect to struggling Sunderland and Irish mate Quinn.
“I spoke to Niall on Wednesday night and told him he’d gone a bit grey over the last two or three months,” said Phillips.
“His Irish reply was: ’Bejazus! Tell me about it!’
“We’re still mates, it’s one of those relationships where, if I do chat to him, it’s as if we only spoke a couple of weeks ago.
“When I decided not to go back, I rang Niall from West Brom and said: ’I was sorry if I’d strung him along’.
“He was a bit miffed but this is a business too and he is still talking to me.
“Niall wants to win this game - he told me that clearly, so it’ll be a tough match for us.
“They still have a tough job, they’re just seven points above the bottom three.
“I won’t celebrate if I score.”
Quinn, who also had a short spell managing Sunderland, became chairman of the Black Cats in July 2006.
And he has attracted wealthy backers to the club like the Drumaville Consortium and more recently new owner US millionaire Ellis Short.
Phillips added: “He’s such a great fella and I so admire what he’s done at that club to get the people in there.
“To get the backing, it’s been crying out for that for that for such a long time.
“I told him: ’just get safe this year and build for next season’.
“He totally agreed with that.
“When I played alongside him I always used to think, he’s an intelligent man, but you’d never ever have thought he’d be chairman of the club three or four years later.
“To run a football club - that must be so much stress.”
Sunderland are still not safe from the drop despite spending £40million last summer on the likes of Darren Bent and Michael Turner.
Phillips said: “I am a bit surprised, they’ve had their fair share of injuries this season but can you use that as an excuse?
“A lot of teams in the Premier League have had their share of injuries. They’ve just been unfortunate.
“I know what it’s like to play up there when things aren’t going well.
“It can be a tough, tough place up there.
“But teams do have their blips and while I’m surprised I think they’ll bounce back, learn from this and get stronger.”
Phillips is out of contract this summer but would love to extend his stay at St Andrews for another 12 months.
He has three goals this term and another today would help his chances - even if Quinn wouldn’t be impressed.
