Speakman In or Speakman Out?

19/04/2024 08:27

This summer is a huge one for Sunderland, with so many key decisions to be made. Paddy Hayes asks: Is persevering with Kristjaan Speakman this summer worth the risk?

That old adage of dying a hero or living long enough to become the villain has been ringing alarmingly true when it comes to the topic of Kristjaan Speakman. Taking to the reigns as Sporting Director during a period of apathetic malaise at the club, where a combination of League One and Parky ball had sapped the life out of the fanbase, it was made almost immediately clear which direction the man from Brum wanted to take us in.

Replacing EFL journeymen with burgeoning young talent on a shoestring budget gave a directionless club that was teetering on the brink a clear structure and strategy. After years of financial negligence, mismanagement, and aimless recruitment, we finally had a man who understood the modern game and the requirements needed for progression.

Since his appointment, we've both nurtured and bought some prodigious young prospects and now find ourselves sitting on prospective transfer fees easily north of £50 million. There is no doubting the good Speakman has done for this club, it was his nous along with a steely Alex Neil who got us out of League One, and his signings that had us on the cusp of a truly unexpected top flight return at the first time of asking last season.

Yet, less than a year on from that unforgettable end of season run that had our pocket of the North East loving watching our team again, we find ourselves in that unremarkable bracket of mid-table mediocrity and at somewhat of a crossroads.

Speakman has truly become a polarising figure of late, but what's gone so catastrophically wring for this once prized asset? Is there any way back for Sunderland's Sporting Director?

It's been emphatically emphasised since Uncle Tony's departure, that Speakman's control extends far beyond matters of backroom recruitment and into the realms of team selection. It's evidential that the preferential treatment of the younger players when it comes to minutes on the pitch has forced many of the more experienced heads in the dressing room to head for pastures new.

While Alan Hansen was once famously proven wrong when he declared "you can't win anything with kids", in our case, the Scotsman was spot on. As opposed to last season, where we had Luke O'Nien, Lynden Gooch, Cory Evans, Danny Batth, and Alex Pritchard guiding the younger lads, our lack of seasoned experience has been telling this term. We've been crying out for leaders with wily knowledge of the Championship, players who may not be as technically gifted as some of the younger talents, but are worth their weight in gold, galvanising their teammates when the going gets tough and who can ardently lead from the front.

Disastrous managerial appointments aside, this blind faith in "the system" has been Speakman's ultimate undoing. While his commitment to honing and developing young players to sell on for profit lends itself to a business-savvy model, it compromises the short and mid-term success of the club, with the season we're enduring being a direct consequence of that. For the Championship is a relentlessly unforgiving league and one that notoriously exposes sides deficient in experience.

Vehemently adhering to the model is certainly admirable, and it has borne fruit with the likes of Jack Clarke, Ross Stewart, Dennis Cirkin, Dan Neil, Pierre Ekwah, and Anthony Patterson all highlighting what can be achieved. The problem with any form of single-minded ideology is exactly that; it's single-minded and lacks nuance. Blending up-and-coming footballing prodigies with a shrewdness that only comes with experience seems glaringly obvious, and doing so would allow us to scratch both itches; challenging for promotion and developing prospects with huge sell-on value simultaneously.

Unlike this season, where we've seen players fresh out of school thrown into the pressure cooker that is a first-team environment, there needs to be a slower process of integration, whereby the burden of expectation for immediate results isn't heaped on with such unrelenting imminence.

If Kristjaan Speakman can recognise the chinks in his armour and then refine and finesse the formula he may not only have the capacity to save his job, but also take Sunderland back to the lofty heights of the Premier League. This all hinges on establishing an equilibrium and departing from this inherent stubbornness. With Steve Davison a confirmed boardroom casualty following the BCB derby day fiasco, it was made clear that dear ol' Kyril was more trigger-happy than we first thought. As such, depending on where we finish this season, Speakman's days may well be numbered.

I'm currently veering towards the Speakman-in brigade. By no means a "happy clapper", despite this depressing slog of the last six months, I believe Speakman has brought a much-needed methodical approach to our recruitment setup. While this claim can, of course, be countered by the inexplicable acquisition of a raft of misfiring and equally inexperienced forwards, the failure to adequately replace Ross Stewart as well as some of the senior statesmen in last season's side, we need to look at the case studies of sides we have based our current model upon - Brentford and Brighton.

Neither of the aforementioned clubs had completely linear trajectories prior to their promotion to the top flight, with Brentford in particular hopping around mid-table before really pushing into the upper echelons of the second tier. Like us, their first campaign back in the Championship ended in play-off defeat, with their second season culminating in an underwhelming mid-table finish, recording one of the lowest average ages in the division at just 22. Jumping forward to the Bees' promotion-winning campaign, the squad's average age had risen to 24, with a clear refining process having been undertaken, focusing on a concoction of experience and exciting young talent.

It'd be a fair assessment to deem this summer's transfer window a do-or-die period for Speakman. Not only does he need to be proactive and effective in the transfer market, but the next managerial appointment is crucial, and will undoubtedly be indicative of whether Speakman and KLD have taken heed.

With Jack Clarke widely anticipated to be heading for the departure lounge, replacing our talisman with a worthy successor and reinvesting the considerable fee we'll command for him will likely be the sword Speakman lives or dies by. Following a snippet of Hummel-induced positivity in recent weeks, the club (and our Sporting Director) must use this slice of nostalgia as a launchpad going into this pivotal summer period.