Kevin Phillips believes Sunderland are capable of reaching the Championship play-offs - but says his former club must tie star striker Ross Stewart down to a new contract and bring in another frontman to share the goalscoring burden. The Black Cats' return to second tier has exceeded all expectations, with Tony Mowbray's side currently sitting eighth in the table and just a single point outside the play-off spots.
That has sparked talk of a play-off push in the club's first season back in the Championship and, while that would be a tall order, Sunderland's legendary striker Phillips says they can do it. "I've been very impressed," said Phillips, who is now manager of South Shields and was speaking at the launch of bookmaker William Hill's new shop inside The Galleries, Washington.
"It doesn’t surprise me, though, as I played under Tony [Mowbray] for two years at West Brom. He came in at a difficult time, but he's steadied the ship and they're now playing some really good football.
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"I think they've got to aim for the play-offs, and I think they are well capable of getting there. They've got some really exciting players like [Alex] Pritchard and they've now got Ross Stewart back, as well as Jack Clarke.
"This season looked like being one of consolidation but the longer it goes on and the position they now find themselves in, with good players as confident as they are, they can hurt teams."
Key to Sunderland's chances will be retaining Scotland international Stewart, who is Sunderland's top scorer with nine goals in 11 league outings despite missing three months of the season through injury. Stewart's form has not gone unnoticed elsewhere, and there has been constant transfer talk surrounding him in the run-up to the January transfer window while contract negotiations between the club and his representatives continue.
"Ross is very important and of course I don't want to see him leave the football club," said Phillips, who is the Black Cats' post-war record goalscorer with 130 goals in 235 appearances during his six-year spell on Wearside between 1997 and 2003. "We've had some really good strikers play for Sunderland who have left, and I'd love him to not be one of those.
"We all want him to sign a new deal, he's a top player who scores very important goals. If he can stay fit, he'll score plenty more, that's for sure.
"He'd be a hugely important player for Sunderland moving forwards."
Sunderland are also looking to bring in at least one more striker in the transfer window, following Everton's decision to recall Ellis Simms from his loan spell at the Stadium of Light at the beginning of the month. He said: "I'd like to see them add another striker, whether that's on loan or permanently.
"If Ross were to get injured, who is going to be that player that comes in and scores with regularity? So, yeah, I'd like to see them dip into the market in that area, but they do have a transfer policy which they stick by.
"They back their young players, which is great, but they might just need a bit more experience in a few areas to help those younger guys get them into the play-offs."
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