Kristjaan Speakman issues Sunderland head coach search update as compensation claim made | OneFootball

Sunderland's sporting director Kristjaan Speakman has updated fans on how the search for a new head coach is going at the club's recent meeting with the supporters collective.

As things stand, there is nobody lined-up to take over from interim head coach Mike Dodds in the summer.

After getting rid of both Tony Mowbray and Michael Beale this season, the Wearsiders are hoping that whoever is appointed to be the next permanent head coach will be with the permanent fix that they have been searching for.

A breakdown in the relationship between the higher-ups and the man who took Sunderland to the play-offs in their first season back in the Championship led to the dismissal of Mowbray, as per the Northern Echo.

Things were a bit more obvious with Beale though, as Speakman has admitted that the style of play under the former QPR and Rangers manager was what drove him out the door.

Now the sporting director and the club's chairman and owner, Kyril Louis-Dreyfus, are back at square one.

Dodds, despite the poor run since taking on the interim role, again, will almost certainly see out the season in his position, and Speakman expects results to improve between now and then as more players return from injury.

Ultimately, they need to settle on who will be the person to take them forward, and, the sporting director has revealed how things are going in that search.

Kristjaan Speakman updates Sunderland fans on head coach search

At the club's most recent meeting with the supporter collective, Speakman said that discussions had begun in the mission to find Beale's permanent replacement.

The minutes from the meeting read, via the Sunderland Echo: "On the Head Coach search, he added that the club consciously had a period of reflection after Michael Beale’s departure and are now engaging in meetings with prospective Head Coaches. This will flow into formal interviews and a decision."

The sporting director confirmed that whoever is appointed would be allowed to bring their own assistants with them to the club, providing they were: "appropriate," recommendations, and that they are willing to pay compensation fees to get the person they want, but he added that this doesn't guarantee a successful appointment.

"KS [Kristjaan Speakman] felt there was little correlation to a compensation fee and future success – there are simply too many variables," read the minutes.

"Opportunities must be viable and sensible, but that does not mean the Club wouldn’t source a Head Coach currently in post at another Club."

INews have reported that Sheffield Wednesday manager Danny Röhl is a person of interest to the club, as well as an unnamed Belgian target. Will Still, the 31-year-old Belgian coach of Stade Reims, was a candidate to replace Mowbray before Beale was appointed, as per the Sunderland Echo.

Sunderland should appoint a young coach if they are going to continue with their recruitment policy

Speakman has admitted that the club will take a more flexible approach to looking for a striker in the summer, and that they took this approach in the January window too, but, for reasons outside of their control, they weren't able to get any of their targets through the door.

This will be pleasing for fans to hear, given the success that they have had up front this season with this youth-first approach to signing players, but it's unlikely that they are now going to completely move away from that ideology.

It will probably still be the consistent theme of their approach, so they should do the same for their coaches.

Speakman himself said, via the minutes from the meeting, that the club want to maintain: "consistency and continuity across football operations."

Some of the best managers in the second tier right now range from being in their 30s to mid-40s, like Ipswich Town's Kieran McKenna, or Röhl, for example. So why not apply the theory behind their player recruitment to that of the manager?

Sunderland have had the youngest average squad age of any team in the Championship over the past two seasons, as per Transfermarkt. If they are going to go with this vision, then fully go with it.