Glory coach Dave Mitchell sparked a storm of fury from the Midlands club when he spoke of his admiration for the 35 year old striker and his determination to bring him to Western Australia and the A-League next season.

But Phillips still has another year on his St Andrews contract and his current club were infuriated by the public declarations.

City plan to report Mitchell's overtures to Phillips to the FA for them to take up with FIFA for illegally approaching a player while still unde5r contract without going through the club.

But Glory today insisted they had not been in contact with the player - and would be speaking to City today to end the misunderstanding.

"Perth Glory Football Club have not made any approach to former England striker Kevin Phillips and acknowledges and respects his contractual status with Birmingham City Football Club," said a club statement.

Mitchell added: "We regret any misunderstanding in this matter and can categorically say that Perth Glory has not made any contact with Kevin Phillips.

"Kevin is obviously a wonderful player and the kind of top class professional we'd like at our club however he is contracted to Birmingham and we completely respect that fact.

"We are working to attract the best players we can to our club and certainly that will only be done in accordance with FIFA guidelines and we are disappointed about claims otherwise."

The club statement added: "Perth Glory wish Birmingham all best in their remaining matches."