Kristjaan Speakman: 'Obsession with progression' the reason for Tony Mowbray Sunderland sacking

Why did Sunderland sack Tony Mowbray? Kristjaan Speakman has attempted to explain it.

Michael Graham | Dec 20, 2023

Kristjaan Speakman: 'Obsession with progression' the reason for Tony Mowbray Sunderland sacking /

Kristjaan Speakman says the club’s ‘obsession with progression’ was the reason why he decided to sack Tony Mowbray and appoint Michael Beale.

Mowbray was hugely popular among the Sunderland supporters after guiding the club to the play-offs last season as a newly-promoted team.

This season Sunderland have got themselves in contention again, and currently sit in seventh, three points behind the pack ahead of Beale’s first game in charge.

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Speakman, though, felt Mowbray had a ceiling that would have then been imposed on the club too had he stayed, and that was why they made the decision to remove him.

Asked why Mowbray was replaced, Speakman said: "I appreciate the question, it's a difficult one in an open forum to provide the full context.

“Ultimately the club is obsessed with progression and improving, and we felt to meet that we had to make a change.

"Do you make it early and it's a surprise, and people are maybe concerned because it doesn't weigh up with the results? Or do you make it [when it’s too late]?

"Michael comes into a team that is performing well, the team is in a good spot and doesn't need picking up from a long, poor run of results. We felt it was the right time."

Beale’s appointment has not been well-received by fans at all, with many questioning the nature of his QPR exit and his failure to impress at Rangers.

He was the manager at Rangers, though, a role that he won’t be replicating at Sunderland, and Speakman believes that head coach role will bring the best of out Beale, describing his work so far this week as ‘some of the best I have seen.’

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"You have a bit of an understanding about the coaches on the circuit, and our paths had crossed a few times,” Speakman said on the process of replacing Mowbray.

“We always try to ensure that we have a really good understanding of the coaches that are out there doing well, doing different things, and outperforming [expectation].

"Everything we've seen in the first two days from Michael is exactly what we thought we were getting. An excellent on-field coach, his preparations, his thought processes behind training and what the boys are doing is some of the best work I've seen.

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"We're really pleased he's here. Sunderland is one of the biggest clubs in the country and will attract worldwide attention. We went into the decision with a clear understanding of what our shortlist looks like.

"What naturally then happens is you get bombarded from all different quarters about potential candidates. What we have is really clear criteria and a really clear process, so we then work through a really tough interview process to get the right person.

"You have to work through the speculation and the noise and stay laser focused on getting the right outcome, and we feel we've done that. We believe we're better placed now.

"On-pitch results will always be the barometer of how people judge that, I've always said that what you see on a Saturday is a very small part of everything that goes on. There's so much work on training, development and evolution behind the scenes and that's what we want to keep driving forward, and that's one of the reasons we chose Michael - we feel he can enhance that.

"We have to keep progressing and we know results are a huge part of that."

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