Inside the Tony Mowbray era so far - and what we've learned about Sunderland's next chapter

Speakman said there were numerous factors, that the extensive search they conducted last time, which involved interviewing a number of up and coming coaches whose careers they will continue to track in the coming years, meant that this time their knowledge of the market was strong from the moment Alex Neil decided to leave.

Some factors that Speakman did not mention also, you suspect, had an impact: a club more stable since Kyril Louis-Dreyfus went some way to settling its ownership uncertainty, and in turn perhaps some lessons learned from what was a drawn out and almost costly process last time around.

Ultimately, though, the main difference was that this time the sense of what the job was in both the short and long term was far clearer.

When Lee Johnson was sacked the club's long-term philosophy had to be set against the fact that failure to win promotion from League One would have significant consequences. Tony Mowbray alluded to this on Tuesday, discussing Dan Neil and making it very clear that he was on Blackburn's radar to poach if Sunderland hadn't got over the line. Sunderland had to consider short-term fixes as well as long-term fits.

In Neil they felt they found something of a happy medium, a coach who data analysis suggested had the capacity to punch above his weight and in swift time. What he also had was Championship experience, a record of improving players who were sold for a profit and the ambition to make a dent in the second tier.

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There was risk there and so Sunderland found when Neil decided that the conditions and terms on offer at Stoke were, in his eyes, more reflective of his abilities and conducive to success in a shorter timescale.

What Sunderland needed now was a head coach experienced enough to manage amid the challenges of the Championship, and committed to dealing with the ups and downs that inevitably comes with working with such a young squad. Or, as Speakman put it, 'sensible progression'.

What has been striking about the way Mowbray has approached the first days of his tenure has been how visibly comfortable he is with the brief, and it has not been hard to see why both parties moved so quickly to work together.

Even in just a few hours of Mowbray's company his total commitment to his players and improving them has been obvious. He is whole-hearted and utterly genuine. He is also experienced enough to know he needs points on the board and here lies the challenge that will define not just his own tenure but the club's wider project.

In his most recent press conference, he came back to it on three occasions..."At this club, I'm just trying to guide it.

"I'm trying to keep the players pointing onwards and upwards. Coming out of League One, what is a good season for us? Is it stabilising, is it mid-table, or should we pushing on? As I sit here today, I like the players, they all work extremely hard, let's see where the season takes us.

"I'm confident that we'll be fine and as Reading are showing this year, as we showed with a very young side at Blackburn last year, if you have a togetherness you can punch above your weight, and let's hope we can do that....."I do feel throughout my career that trying to win matches and develop players has been a conundrum for me. My job is probably just to win but I do think my job is to improve these players and you're trying to find a balance.

"Someone was telling me recently about the tenures of managers here... so I'm reluctant to start talking about four or five years down the line... that might be a bit ambitious! But my point is you have to manage a football club as if you're going to be here forever, and that's what I will do...."I hope that I'm sat here in five years time, talking about a team that is still developing and that is functioning. I won't be if we're in a lower league, and if we're not in a higher league by then I probably won't be either. Let's hope I'm sat here talking about Manchester United coming here and some very, very good players, some of whom might be here now.

"I'm wise enough to know there's a balance between developing and having to win...."Sunderland's hope is that Mowbray will continue the work he did at Blackburn, where the club was highly regarded for its player development programme. It helped them develop their own talent, and also some of the very best at Premier League academies on loan.

In turn, Mowbray hopes he has the time and space to recreate and even build on that culture. Both hope the difference between the two jobs will be that having consolidated, the Black Cats can kick on further. Key to that is the 40,000 attendances being produced on a regular basis and that when revenue is raised through player sales in future, it will go mostly back into the playing squad as opposed to plugging financial holes elsewhere in the club. When Mowbray convinced head of recruitment Stuart Harvey to leave Ewood Park for Wearside long before he had his own thoughts of taking up the job, it was because he believed that potential could make Sunderland a 'juggernaut' in the Championship over the years to come.

What Mowbray also understands is that it won't always be a smooth journey. He is already cautioning, for example, that while Sunderland's four exciting additions in the latter stages of the window are hugely gifted and will get fans off their seats along the way, physically the Championship is a very new challenge and no one can be quite sure how they will fare.

And while a similar model to Sunderland's has been successful elsewhere, it has been primarily at clubs without anywhere near the pressure and scrutiny that comes with a club of this size. So strongly embedded in the North East, Mowbray knows that as well as anyone.

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As was the case last season, and as Alex Neil so acutely understood, at some point the need for results and quick results supersedes everything else.

Both Speakman and Mowbray were careful last week not to play down what could be achieved this season.

It is testament to Neil's coaching and man-management abilities, and the recruitment of the hierarchy, that Mowbray has inherited a squad that has competed with every team it has faced this season. It is a tight unit with spirit and resilience, and one whose encouraging results are a fair reflection of their performances. What they can achieve in the short term is still unclear, though a medium-term injury to Ross Stewart has significantly dampened expectations.

Mowbray has nevertheless been clear that he is in this for the long haul, a job that he hopes will allow him to focus on his strengths. He knows that to do that he also needs to produce results, and that starts with the first big conundrum: replacing Stewart's goals.