IMO I think as all clubs transition to a more balanced and sustainable future then we may well find ourselves ahead of the curve which for Sunderland would be a first in the modern football era. The here and now is not as good as I had hoped for this season and I think a lot of what has transpired falls on a few shoulders and not just on Speakman and KLD, however they are front and centre when blame is being handed out. There seems to be a lot of speculation regarding remits and scopes and information about how KS and KLD operate but in truth there is very little information to go on apart from some info from previous managers and how the club have operated without them. I have spoken previously about my reservations with Dodds and Proctor and how we have switched formations to a more defensive style (this started under TM and has continued) and seems to have happened simultaneously with the rise of Dodds through the club. However that is just supposition on my part and only based on timing and opinion. KS and the recruitment team have had a good amount of hits who have all been named on here and a few misses as well as all recruitment teams do, we have some young players who we will probably not realise their potential or worth for another couple of seasons. We as a club have had to build from the youth teams up and have had to buy young players to develop into first teamers but the truth is our squad last year and this year have effectively been our under 23 squad and by that metric we have probably over performed to expectations. That said as you look at the set up now there is a strong youth set up which can provide back up to the first team and we now look like we have the foundations set up to allow us to add stability to the team with some more established players to be brought in, but they must be the right players with the right mindset to help advance the younger players whilst also achieving their own ambitions (we do not need anymore journeymen). That work has been done in 3 seasons but I do believe that KS will be under pressure to deliver some improvements this year starting with getting the right head coach.
I wonder if they both became fed up with Speakman, the way he goes on or if he tried to pick the team?
I would imagine that if we had signed the more established players we needed that a lot of the people complaining would have turned their attention to the fact we did not have a good enough youth set up when injuries hit. There will always be reasons to complain if that is how you deal with frustrations, I tend to try and find the positives in the fact we now look to have a reasonably strong youth set up with a lot of our under 23 players playing first team football and what seems to be some even younger players to back that up. That in effect is putting in the foundations that our fans have been looking for, for years but I think some want us to build the youth teams and first team at the same time where in reality it looks like we have tried to blend youth and junior players into first team football. Some have been excellent and some not so good, some have failed and some are yet to show if they will be a success or a failure or maybe somewhere in the middle. we have 15, 16 and 17 year old kids playing for us at first team level. JC, DN, TH and DB are still very young in footballing terms but our fan base talks about them as if they are senior pro's.
What frustrates me with all of this is that scenarios are built up with minimal facts on how the internal mechanisms, in the club, actually function. Fervent arguments are constructed on guesswork and little else. Speculation eventually becomes fact until people believe the club have taken a £10m loan, Sartori is buying another club, KLD is selling up and Patterson is scrapping in the car park with Dodds while Neil holds his coat. There's a bit of a fixation with 'The Model' as if it's carved in stone rather than being a basic set of flexible guidelines. (Guesswork on my part.) I'd be amazed if it's actually true that the owner doesn't want to go up to the PL or is only in it for the money. Neither make a pick of sense to me and are actually contradictory ... ... the only way to make significant profits, or even have a big ego boost, is to get to the PL.
None of us really know what the parameters are for KS to work under. We can make the obvious assumption that it's to sign young talented prospects for not much money,put them on long contracts and invest in their resale value,whilst coaching them to a level of performance to enhance our upward progress. I imagine KS job is to conduct this acquisition policy when SH and his staff have identified potential targets, which will have been done after consultation with the head coach. I don't for one minute think KS role extends to team selection,although I am puzzled that Jobe appears to be continually on the team sheet despite some less than satisfactory performances,and this may be contractual. In the main,I think they've done pretty well,we like most of the players we see,we can see the talent and the potential, and,but for injuries,our season may have been much better.Where the need arises, the system is mildly flexible...e.g.the signing of Dack The one area in which we've failed is the striker....Hemir,Burstow and Rusyn have failed to deliver,although it's my belief that Rusyn was signed as a hedge against losing Clarke. It could be that the recruitment team came up with targets whom KS couldn't get to fit the parameters remit.It will be they were confident of Hemir and Burstow,but have been proved wrong.I can well understand the coach getting frustrated with the weight of expectation whilst working with players who,for whatever reason,are not responding quickly enough to the coaching,and with whom he needs much more time, time which the 5 year plan and we,as fans,are reluctant to allow. KS has a major job now to appoint the right coach,not a short term gamble,and at the right time in order we don't start next season preparations behind the curve. In addition,SH has to target the right players for the one or two important areas we need to add,as we exit this season's mediocrity marking time,and establish ourselves at the top of this division! Looking forward to it already!
I agree on speakmans arrogance over riding any self reflection or ability to realise he has made mistakes and things need to be tweaked policy wise. He clearly still does not see an adequate c.forward as a priority - remember he thought the young German winger Dajaku? Speakman said he would play no.9 no problem - he was badly wrong then and hasn't learned. We will regress very quickly if speakmans influence on the first team is not reduced considerably from the end of this season imo. I also have no confidence that they will change course either unfortunately.
That’s exactly it mate and the worry for me, I know if we get the injured players back our team is still very strong but the last two windows have been very poor. Let’s hope they have learned because this summer is huge for him.
I was saying that it’s fine margins. People wouldn’t be obsessed with Speakman had he got maybe even one better league ready striker and be 10 points better for it. I’m also not saying we had to sign old players, just one or two that he got ready for the league. That doesn’t mean old. Speakman has done amazingly well at what he knows best and we’ll be better for it. That’s why I say we just need adjustments in player recruitment.
I am so pleased to note that you are so close to Speakman that you are able to undertake a full psychological assessment of him. In addition that you are also a fixture within the club, to such an extent that you are able to attend meetings with the coaching staff when they are picking the team. Any team news for Friday All about opinions
TBF the last thing he said was that Beale's appointment was a mistake and that things need to change. I've no idea if a CF is a priority though, hope so.
If the powers that be cant see the glaring issue at CF they must be pouring whiskey on their cornflakes not milk. It takes a lot for me to say this but if we go into next season without a decent experienced CF then I am afraid its negligence by the club. Rusyn isnt a kid but for a CF he doesnt strike the ball cleanly or powerfully enough for me and Heimer just isnt ready by a long way.
I don't think there's anything really incorrect about what he's said there - except that we perhaps deserved more than the results suggest, either during his time here or since.
