“Time needed” – Kristjaan Speakman explains why the appointment as coach took so long

Kristjaan Speakman has explained why it took so long to appoint a new head coach this year – and suggested it was due to self-reflection following the Michael Beale debacle.

Beale replaced Tony Mowbray in December 2023 and it proved such a poor decision that the former Rangers manager only lasted 12 games on Wearside.

A large part of this was due to a strong reaction from fans. Many disagreed with the appointment and Beale’s football and results could do nothing but reinforce these initial views.

Although he left in February, Regis Le Bris didn’t arrive until July, with Mike Dodds taking temporary charge as Sunderland’s season came to a painfully dull – but certain – end.

That led to real criticism of Speakman for taking so long, but he says they needed the time to essentially pause their processes and start over.

“As part of the coaching recruitment process, I had kind of a matrix around profile and qualifications that I was really, really proud of,” he told the Second Tier Podcast.

“You know, I sat around afterward and watched it – something that I was really proud of, that I thought was really good – and I thought, actually, we should get rid of this. We have to change it and we have to develop it further.

“And we did that, and we needed some time after that coach to review and reflect, and we felt like we didn’t want to make sweeping changes.

“So we decided to compete with our assistant coach [Mike Dodds] We have great admiration for him at the time and it gave us time to think, breathe and of course make better decisions for the future.”

Le Bris was eventually appointed and he got off to a great start. His team are currently top of the Championship and, unlike Beale, his football has strengthened bonds with fans rather than undermining them.

However, for Speakman, another important reason why the club took so long to make the appointment was that he felt he would only have a chance at a coach like Le Bris after the end of the season, rather than during the season .

“One of the reasons we didn’t move straight to making a permanent decision was because we knew the permanent decisions we preferred at the time weren’t available,” he explained.

“And of course it’s difficult when you get to the end of the season. There are some people out there who admire you.

“They may think it’s a good opportunity for Sunderland, but they also don’t necessarily want to leave their club at this place and at this moment and it may not be the right time.”

“We just felt like the summer would actually be our chance to identify and hire the right person. And at the moment it’s obviously being sustained and hopefully it stays that way.”