Andy said…
Shocked – well, I was shocked at first.
This is a man who has contributed to the turnaround of our club over the last four or five years. He oversaw the rebuilding of our struggling team in Division One and ushered in a new era, creating a home for our young recruits.
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It feels like he has a place here for the foreseeable so the club’s decision is a shock, but the more I think about it the more it makes sense.
What Speakman did was outstanding, but the club has moved on. We are no longer looking for young players from Premier League teams to develop. The club is moving at such a rate that it is no longer a place where we can give time to a disoriented “wonder child”.
This is an unstable league.
The team has to constantly adapt and make changes, and the appointment of Florent Ghisolfi in the summer seemed to mark the end of Speakman’s era – and allow us to tap into different markets that Speakman didn’t understand. Gisolfi has been backed up and the ruthlessness displayed by Kirill Louis-Dreyfus is a quality the Premier League hierarchy demands.
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Speakman was incredibly successful at Sunderland and I will always be grateful for everything he did over the years to take this club from the bottom of League One to where we are now.
With such success on his resume wherever he lands, I’m sure many clubs in the Championship, and possibly the Premier League, will be salivating at the prospect of employing Speakman.
Ivan Bowman said…
My initial reaction was that this was so unexpected, but the more you think about it the more it makes sense.
When Florent Ghisolfi arrived last summer, there was a real sense that he would take over.
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The Premier League is brutal and Speakman did an incredible job during his six years at the club, but we were moving on so fast that his services were no longer needed.
Two promotions, three Wembley wins and his vision alongside Kirill Louis-Dreyfus, Stuart Harvey and the rest of the board transformed the club on and off the pitch, from academy level to first team level.
All Sunderland fans can only thank him for his help in our journey back to the Premier League and wish him all the best for the future.
Jonny Hawley said…
Shocked by the timing and suddenness of it all? Absolutely. Shocked by this decision? Not that much actually.
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With the summer signings and Gisolfi becoming increasingly responsible for public-facing statements and the odd interview with the written press, it’s become increasingly clear that Florent Gisolfi has effectively “usurped” Speakman’s place at the top of the recruiting hierarchy.
I think in a sense Speakman is a victim of the same phenomenon that saw the likes of Dan Neal and Anthony Patterson move on – clubs moving up the ladder faster than he did.
That’s not a criticism, as Speakman has done an incredible job at Sunderland and been a key driver in the astronomical progress we’ve seen over the past five years, and he leaves with his head held high and hopefully he will gain the admiration and respect of the club and fans.
However, after the roller coaster of this season, we are now operating in a larger, more elite market than even we were in early June. Naturally, Gisolfi had the network and reputation to operate in Europe’s top markets from his work on the continent, something Speakman did not have because he had not yet been exposed to it.
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As January wears on, it might actually make sense to now cut ties and give all parties the clarity to move forward and allow Speakman to start planning his next move – I don’t think he’ll be short of admirers, let’s put it that way!
What this means for the rest of the club’s football activities – running the academy, being involved in recruitment and firing staff etc – is unclear at the moment, but I just hope they can take control internally, and they will.
This time we can sit back and trust the club. What a feeling!