Sunderland's new Sporting Director explains exactly how recruitment will work in January and beyond

Speakman was appointed as Sporting Director last week and appointed Johnson as Head Coach in his first key footballing decision.

The 41-year-old says the pair are closely aligned in their ideas, and will work closely on recruitment.

Speakman is set to appoint a new head of recruitment to replace Tony Coton, and has also said there will be investment into a department that is currently significantly underpowered.

With that in mind, Johnson's initial role is likely to be greater, particularly with a January window on the horizon that will be key to Sunderland's promotion hopes.

The former Bristol City boss has already said he would like 'one or two' additions, identifying a lack of pace as a key deficiency in the squad.

"Ultimately the first team playing squad can't contain any players in there that are not of the preference of the head coach," Speakman told the #SAFCUnfiltered club podcast.

"It's newsworthy because it creates conflict and conflict provides something to discuss, you see these football clubs where somebody somewhere has this player brought in that the head coach doesn't want, and therefore someone is sold that the head coach doesn't want.

"You have to create something collaborative. It's a slightly different context at the minute because we're starting this project off, so that might be slightly different to in the future.

"The future will look like having a head of recruitment to manage the recruitment process, around capturing the information and football intelligence within the market place, and then moving all the way through to a select engage phase where the head coach would come in.

"Now, he will have to - with the football club at the minute - help us to create the profiles of the positions linked to the football philosophy. We don't, at the minute, have those in any great depth how we'd like them.

"The head coach is going to identify the areas which he feels are a weakness and the areas he thinks we can improve in, and that ultimately has to be his judgement call because he's responsible for that short-term Saturday-Tuesday."