ENGLAND international Kevin Phillips, who has scored ten of Sunderland's 20 Premiership goals this season, has expressed his disappointment that Manchester United striker Dwight Yorke will not be sharing the job with him - but has defended the club's stand on wages.
The Trinidad and Tobago star priced himself out of moves to Sunderland and Middlesbrough, who were both prepared to meet the £6.5m price-tag set by Old Trafford boss Sir Alex Ferguson.
Yorke is reputed to have demanded a £60,000 a week pay-packet, which would have driven a bulldozer through the wage structures at the two North-East clubs.
Phillips, whose partnership with veteran Republic of Ireland striker Niall Quinn, is stuttering to a close, knows that manager Peter Reid is trying desperately to find a proven goalscorer to share the work-load with his prize asset and is prepared to be patient while the search goes on after the end of the interest in Yorke.
But he admitted: "Personally I am disappointed because obviously we desperately need to strengthen up front and he's a top class player. But I actually sympathise with the club if they refused to meet £60,000 a week pay demands as has been suggested.
"The money in football is crazy at the moment, though footballers are going to be the last to complain about it and it is a fabulous time to be playing the game.
"But it can't go on forever and players can still be wonderfully well paid without going overboard."
Phillips feels that players are beginning to understand the concerns of clubs worried about financial problems ahead if less money is received from the next television deal.
Phillips said: "It is disappointing that Dwight Yorke is not coming to Sunderland after an offer was made for him, but I know the manager is looking around to bring in a striker who can be a long-term success at the club and, for the moment, we just have to be patient."
Meanwhile, French international Lilian Laslandes, who was a flop after his £3.6m move to Wearside last summer, could be on his way back to Wearside at the end of the season when his loan deal at struggling Bundesliga club Cologne expires.
Laslandes, who failed to score in 12 Premiership appearances, has also been unable to hit the net in his two outings with the German club, who have now parted company with coach Ewald Lienen, the man responsible for taking the former Bordeaux striker from Sunderland.
Sunderland are narrowing down their search for a successor to 35-year-old Quinn and Reid has checked personally on Athletic Bilbao's big Spanish international centre-forward Ismael Urzaiz.
* Sunderland AFC chief executive Hugh Roberts, who is also a director of Sunderland plc, is resigning after 18 months with the club because he and his family are unable to settle in the area.
Roberts, who will leave at the end of the financial year in July, explained: "Sunderland is a massive club with a great future and I'm very proud to have been part of it. I have great confidence in the people at the club who are highly committed and I am in no doubt that they will achieve much success for Sunderland.
"I have enjoyed my time at the club enormously, but my family and I are unable to settle permanently in the area and it is for this reason alone that I have decided to leave at the end of the current financial year in July."
A statement from the club announcing Roberts' resignation yesterday said that there are no immediate plans to recruit a successor.
* Sunderland's penultimate home game of the season, against Liverpool on Saturday, April 13, has had its kick-off time put back to 5.35pm to accommodate Sky's pay-per-view channel.
* A tight-lipped John Gregory yesterday stormed out of Bramall Lane after a disciplinary panel handed the new Derby boss a three-match touchline ban and a £12,000 fine.
Following a 40-minute Football Association hearing at Bramall Lane, a stern-looking Gregory refused to comment after being found guilty of abusing linesman Ray Gould in a Boxing Day home defeat to Liverpool while manager at Aston Villa.
Derby manager Gregory had been hoping the fact he was no longer in charge at Villa, taking over at Pride Park last week, would be in his favour.
But the 48-year-old must now sit in the stand for the matches at home to Manchester United and away at Arsenal and Bolton as the ban starts on February 25.
l Leicester City manager Dave Bassett is looking to move into the transfer market after selling record signing Ade Akinbiyi to Crystal Palace.
The Foxes will recoup an initial £2.2m of the £5m paid to Wolverhampton Wanderers for Akinbiyi plus an extra £150,000 if Palace are promoted within the next three seasons.
Bassett has been told he had to sell before he could consider bringing in even loan signings to bolster his injury ravaged squad, of which six players are ruled out for the rest of the season
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