SUNDERLAND striker Kevin Phillips yesterday paid tribute to sacked manager Peter Reid - and pledged his future to the club.

Reid plucked Phillips from the obscurity of Watford in a £650,000 deal over five years ago.

It proved to be Reid's shrewdest move in his seven-and-a-half year reign as Phillips fired himself into Sunderland's record books and the England squad.

Phillips last season became the Wearsiders' leading post-war League goalscorer and two years ago won Europe's Golden Shoe when he hit 30 in the Premiership.

The 29-year-old, who yesterday resumed full training a month after undergoing a hernia operation, revealed his "sadness'' over Reid's departure on Monday.

"There are two people in my career I owe a lot to - Glenn Roeder for giving me the chance at Watford and Peter Reid for taking me that one step further.

"Since coming to Sunderland, I've had success in the First Division and the Premiership and I've also broken into the international scene.

"I owe it to Peter and I'm disappointed he's gone, but we all know him and I'm sure he'll be back.

"Wherever he goes I'm sure he'll be a success. We wish him all the best and now we must concentrate on ourselves.

"Only time will tell how well we'll move on. Whoever comes in, they've still got the same players to work with.

"We contributed to Peter's downfall and we owe it to ourselves to go out, put in some good performances, and show the new manager what we can do.

"The slate is wiped clean and we're all starting from scratch. We're fighting for our places, if not our careers, and it's important we put in good performances and look to impress."

Phillips added: "It's strange to come in and not see the manager here or Adrian Heath, but we've got to rally round.

"Obviously, we are managerless at the moment but Niall Quinn has stepped in and he's fantastic in this situation.

"We have to be upbeat and forget about what has happened. You can say we mourned a little the other day, but now we have to get on and look forward to the West Ham game. We have to keep in good shape mentally for that one.''

Phillips is hoping to be back for the Hammers' visit a week on Saturday.

"I've trained and I'm quite excited about it,'' he admitted. "It's been frustrating in the last four weeks and even more so with all this happening. I want to go out, have a good week's training and hopefully be fit for selection for the West Ham game."

McCarthy snub

SUNDERLAND fans last night delivered a huge snub to Mick McCarthy.

The Ireland boss finished bottom in a fanzine poll of potential Sunderland managers. A Love Supreme ran an internet poll to determined their top choice for the Stadium of Light job, but McCarthy only polled 11 per cent of the votes.

David O'Leary finished top of the pile with 39 per cent, Celtic chief Martin O'Neill earned 35 pc, with George Graham polling 15pc.

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