Andy says…
Shocked — well, initially I was.
This man was responsible for the turnaround of our club over the past four to five years. He oversaw the rebuild of our beleaguered squad in League One and ushered in a new
era where a home was made for our youth-inspired recruits.
It felt like he had a position here for the foreseeable so the decision from the club has come as a shock, but the more I think about it, the more it makes sense.
Speakman was great for what he did but the club has moved forward. We’re no longer looking for youth prospects from Premier League teams to nurture. The club has moved forward at such a pace and is no longer a place where we can give time to “wonder-kids” who’ve lost their way.
This is a volatile league.
Teams must constantly adapt and make changes and it would seem that Florent Ghisolfi’s appointment in the summer spelt the end of the Speakman era — and will enable us to exploit different markets that Speakman doesn’t know. Ghisolfi has been backed and the ruthlessness displayed by Kyril Louis-Dreyfus is a trait that’s required within Premier League hierarchies.
Speakman has been an unbelievable success at Sunderland and I’ll always be grateful for what he’s done over the years to catapult this club from the lows of the League One days to where we are now.
Wherever he lands, he’ll have this success on his CV and I’m sure many clubs in the Championship and possibly even the Premier League will be licking their lips at the prospect of hiring Speakman.
Ewan Bowman says…
My initial reaction was that it’s very out of the blue, but the more you think about it, the more it makes sense.
After Florent Ghisolfi’s appointment last summer, it did feel like he would take the reins.
The Premier League is ruthless and Speakman did an incredible job the six years at the club, but we’ve moved forward at such a rate that his services were no longer required.
Two promotions, three Wembley wins and his vision alongside Kyril Louis-Dreyfus, Stuart Harvey and the rest of the board have transformed the club both on and off the pitch, from academy level through to the first team.
All Sunderland fans can only thank him for helping us in our journey back to the Premier League and wish him the best of luck for the future.
Jonny Hawley says…
Shocked at the timing and the sudden nature of it all? Absolutely. Shocked at the decision? Not so much, actually.
It’s become clearer and clearer that Florent Ghisolfi has effectively ‘usurped’ Speakman at the top of the recruitment hierarchy, with the summer signings and the fact that Ghisolfi has increasingly taken charge of public-facing statements and the odd interview to the written media.
I think Speakman is, in a sense, a victim of the same phenomena that’s seen the likes of Dan Neil and Anthony Patterson, amongst others, moved on — the club has simply levelled up faster than he could.
That’s not a criticism as Speakman has done incredible work at Sunderland, has been a key driver of the astronomical progress we’ve seen over the past five years and leaves with his head held high and hopefully the admiration and respect he deserves from the club and fanbase.
However, we’re operating in a far larger and far more elite market now than we were even at the start of June following the rollercoaster of this season. Ghisolfi, naturally, has the contact base and reputation from his work on the continent to operate in the top European markets that Speakman just doesn’t have, because he hasn’t been exposed to it yet.
With January out of the way, it possibly does make sense to cut ties now and allow all parties to move on with clarity and let Speakman begin to plan his next move — I don’t think he’ll be short of admirers, put it that way!
What this means for the rest of the footballing activity at the club — running the academy side, involvement in hiring and firing staff, etc — is unclear right now, but I just hope internally they’re on top of everything, which they will be.
For once, we can sit back and just trust the club. A nice feeling!
