Sunderland transfer model will deliver success, insists Kristjaan Speakman

Kristjaan Speakman has defended Sunderland's transfer model and told supporters it won't be changing.

Kristjaan Speakman has defended the Sunderland model and essentially told fans it’s not changing and it can deliver everything they want from the club.

Debate about the way the club are trying to achieve promotion by developing players on a sustainable budget rather than taking financial risks and buying them often dominates the debate among Sunderland fans.

Some believe in it and back it while others oppose it and want to see what they consider a more ambitious level of investment.

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However, Speakman says it is working and their ‘conviction’ to continue with it is absolute, whether fans like it or not.

Speaking after the close of the January transfer window, Speakman said: "It's three years, seven windows since I've been here, is it?

“We picked up a team that was ninth in League One with an average age of over 29. I think we've now got one of the youngest, most exciting teams in the country, on the up and competing in that top end of the Championship with probably a squad value over £100 million, you guys can assess that.

"If that's not progress, then I'm not really sure what is. But we certainly don't want to be complacent about it, but we have lots of conviction in how we're working.

“There's lots of choices within that and when you make a choice, you open that up for people to have an opinion on that whether it be fans, pundits, journalists. Everyone will have an opinion and that's the beauty of football, everyone will have a discussion about the business.

“But ultimately, whenever anyone looks into the club, they'll hopefully see professionalism, continuity and a conviction in what we're doing. We believe through that conviction, we'll keep getting success."

Speakman’s comments follow a transfer window in which Sunderland added Leo Hjelde, Romaine Mundle and Callum Styles but failed to land a senior striker.

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That has drawn criticism from both fans and media, but Speakman is adamant they are happy with the squad and they have built and they believe it has everything it needs to have a good second half of the season.

"We're really comfortable with the squad," Speakman said. “Time will tell, every decision we make is a pre-mortem and everything everyone else [judges] is a post-mortem.

“For us, we have to try and predict [what's next] and we're in a really comfortable place with the players we've brought in and how the squad is balanced. There's nothing to say that we can't achieve what we want to achieve."

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