Sunderland legend Kevin Phillips open to managing the Black Cats

Sunderland legend Kevin Philipps has said that he would be open to taking the step in management with the Black Cats. The 46-year-old had six goal-laden seasons with the Wearside outfit between 1997 and 2003 but he has not got the chance to represent the League One club in a managerial capacity to date.


Speaking on TalkSPORT, the Black Cats great said that he has always been open to managing the club but has not been handed with the opportunity. He added that he would love the chance to manage the Black Cats and won’t be disappointed, should the club decide to look somewhere else for the next head coach.

He told: “Yeah, of course I would. I am not going to sit here and lie to you and I think every time I have met you and every time I have been asked the question when the job has came up, I have said of course I would be interested. I would be daft not to. There’s pluses and minuses of taking a job when you have done so well at a club but ultimately I have always said I would love to have a crack at management and I would love to go back to the club. So if it is to happen at this point it will be great. If it doesn’t then maybe somewhere down the line it might happen.”

Sunderland missed out on promotion to the Championship last season after they were beaten 2-1 by Charlton Athletic in the playoff final. The game was evenly contested with both teams struggling to find the winner but the Addicks eventually prevailed with Patrick Bauer scoring in the final minutes of stoppage time to break the hearts of Black Cats fans.

In the current season, the Black Cats have not made the best of starts by their standards and they are presently sixth on the table with an eight-point gap to the top. Most recently, they suffered a 2-0 defeat at the hands of Lincoln City on the road and that paved the way for the dismissal of manager Jack Ross. The Black Cats are very much in the mix for promotion but the board has made it clear that they would prefer to progress to the Championship through the automatic berths.