Phillips is a former EPL golden boot from his time with Sunderland almost a decade ago and has since played for Aston Villa and West Brom. 

Last week Phillips sparked transfer interest when he told the British press: "I've had a chat with the manager and he's said that I can go if the right offer comes along.

"It's a bit disappointing but I accept that at this stage in my career perhaps I need to be playing games and I've always said that, if the right offer comes along, I'll definitely have a look at it."

The Jets have scored the fewest (24) of any A-League side this season largely thanks to injuries to key strikers such as Michael Bridges, Jeremy Brockie and Sean Rooney.

But Phillips may not be the answer to Newcastle's woes.

Birmingham boss Alex McLeish this week said the club would be cautious in releasing the striker, whose current deal expires in May.

“I tried to be fair to Kevin but he is still under contract to the end of the season and we don’t want him coming back haunting us," he said. “I’ve got to be careful about what we do there.

“Kevin feels he is not getting enough of an opportunity and I can understand his viewpoint, but I have to protect the club as well.”

Today Culina admitted their pursuit of the prolific hitman had stalled.

“We’ve inquired, and that’s where it’s at,” Culina told au.fourfourtwo.com. “We inquired with his club and they told us they won’t be releasing him.”

Culina added that the club wasn’t looking for other strikers in the short-term as the Jets aim to arrest a slide that has their A-League finals hopes hanging in the balance.

This weekend, the Jets head to Wellington for an absolutely crucial game in the context of this season’s finals.

In eighth spot, Newcastle have a game in hand on the seventh placed Phoenix who are one point ahead of Culina's men on 32 points.

Jets’ Kiwi striker Jeremy Brockie is expected to play and left back Adam D’Apuzzo will also travel to the New Zealand capital but a groin injury will keep Iraqi winger Ali Abbas out of the clash.

Crowd numbers for Sunday’s clash should be helped by the 5000 tickets released by Phoenix owner Terry Serepisos at $5 each. The proceeds will go to the Queensland Flood Relief Fund.

Phoenix coach Ricki Herbert will stick with the squad he took to the Gold Coast midweek against Roar (losing 2-0), but won’t make any decisions on the starting XI till the team have trained at Westpac Stadium on Saturday morning.

“With the short turnaround we won’t do much before Sunday and we’ll see how the players pull up over the next couple of days,” Herbert said.

 “We have to be a good chance of beating Newcastle given our recent performances.”

The Jets have only won once at the “Cake Tin” in six previous visits.

“The players know what is required of them,” added Herbert. “They were disappointed with what happened against Roar, but we have everything to play for and making the playoffs is still in our own hands.”