Quinn granted Phillips talks
Sunderland have received permission from Aston Villa to open talks with Kevin Phillips.
Sunderland have received permission from Aston Villa to open talks with former favourite Kevin Phillips, as Niall Quinn seeks to lift some of the gloom from the beleaguered Black Cats.
Phillips has been much sought after by Quinn, ever since the Irishman took charge at The Stadium of Light, and Villa have now given the go-ahead to a possible transfer.
The 33-year-old, who does not appear to feature in new manager Martin O'Neill's plans at Villa Park, continues to enjoy hero status on Wearside after a goal-laden six years at the club.
However, Sunderland may not have it all their own way in a bid for Phillips, with reports suggesting West Bromwich Albion have also been in discussions with Villa.
The signing of Phillips would find favour with Sunderland defender Kenny Cunningham, who has backed Quinn's threat to orchestrate a mass clear out at Sunderland if performances do not improve quickly.
Four straight defeats have seen The Black Cats endure a nightmare return to The Championship and Cunningham admits the players have got to take much of the responsibility for a worrying decline.
The latest abject setback came in a 3-1 loss at Southend on Saturday - a defeat which prompted Quinn to threaten to ring mass changes.
"Performances just aren't good enough, there's big expectation at this football club, big expectation amongst supporters, Niall and the coaching staff," Cunningham told Sky Sports News. "Even from the players, we expect to be in a far higher position than we are in at this moment in time.
"I think Niall's working behind the scenes to strengthen the squad and has been since he came first came in.
"Certainly the quality that's in the dressing room is far better than what we're showing on the football pitch.
"We're certainly capable of being competitive in this league with the squad we've got.
"If that can be strengthened at any time then that would be great. But we feel that we've underperformed up to this point and that's something we're desperate to rectify.
"Four defeats and no points on the board - that's just not good enough. Niall didn't pick out anybody individually but just said those kind of performances are unacceptable.
"We can't go through the season producing those kind of performances, otherwise we'll find ourselves closer to the bottom half of the table than the top.
"It's Niall's responsibility to rectify that but he can only rectify it to a point - by working with the players on the training pitch day in, day out and preparing the team as best he can.
"He can influence those things but ultimately once we get out on the pitch he's got to trust the players to perform to their maximum and carry out their instructions.
"If that's not the case and the players haven't got the ability to do that then he may have to leave some players out of the team and bring some other players in. So he's right to threaten the players with that."
