“A link with Sunderland and Newcastle it would be fantastic": Kevin Phillips plans to talk with Cats boss Alex Neil about link with South Shields

Phillips, who scored 130 goals in 235 Sunderland appearances as a player, took charge of The Mariners in January, before the club missed out on promotion from The Northern League Premier Division in the play-offs.

Asked about South Shields’ plans for the 2022/23 season, Phillips told the Echo: "I’m just looking to obviously bring some players here. Players go out, it’s natural and is what happens in football.

“We’ll be looking now to get a few signings over the line in the next couple of weeks and then look forward to coming back in pre-season and getting the lads going again.

“We are all determined to put right what we didn’t achieve last season in promotion so obviously that’s our priority this season.”

South Shields signed midfielder Sam Wilding on loan from Sunderland in March, while Phillips is hopeful he can build further ties with Neil and his former club on Wearside.

Phillips was a TV pundit as Sunderland beat Wycombe Wanderers 2-0 in the League One play-off final and was able to have a brief chat with the Scot after the game at Wembley.

“I hope that if Alex stays at the club we can have a link with Sunderland whatever way we can do that,” Phillips said when asked about Neil and potential links with the Black Cats.

“I think it’s important with the big clubs, certainly with us here you can see the facilities we’ve got here and it’s fantastic for our level.

“If we can get a link with Sunderland and Newcastle it would be fantastic.”

On Neil, he added: “I saw him after the game on Saturday. We had a beer together and I congratulated him.

“It wasn’t really the time to be talking about football but I said I’d love to at some point when we’re back amongst it to meet for a coffee or come to training and I’ll pick his brains.

“He was more than happy to do that which is great.”