In his nearly two years at the Academy of Light, the former Birmingham City man has overseen a radical overhaul of the club’s playing squad with the Wearsiders focusing on their academy, and buying young players to be nurtured and blooded in the first team.
It is a strategy that has produced results, with Speakman providing a squad that Alex Neil managed to brilliantly turn into promotion winners following Lee Johnson’s under-achievement.
However, with any recruitment strategy, there are pros and cons.
Indeed, Speakman has been criticised in some quarters for not providing Sunderland with enough depth, as evidenced by the injuries to Ross Stewart and Ellis Simms, leaving Tony Mowbray without any senior strikers.
Here, though, we drill down into every signing sanctioned by Speakman since his arrival at the club and rate them from one to ten.
5. Callum Doyle
It is easy to forget just how good Callum Doyle was for Sunderland at such a young age during the early part of last season although his involvement did lessen as the campaign wore on. Part of the promotion-winning squad. 7.5/10. Photo: Alex Burstow
6. Nathan Broadhead
When he was fit, Nathan Broadhead was electrifying and scored some crucial late goals for Sunderland to help Alex Neil cement the club's play-off position. Most Wearsiders would have been over the moon had he returned to the club last summer. 9/10. Photo: Stu Forster
7. Thorben Hoffmann
The Hoff produced some moments of quality during the early part of Sunderland's promotion campaign (Gillingham away springs to mind) but was unseated by the emergence of Anthony Patterson. A signing that probably needed to be made at the time. 7/10. Photo: Stu Forster
8. Frederik Alves
Another loan signing from a Premier League side where the logic was clear to see but it just never happened for Alves at the Stadium of Light. 4/10. Photo: COPYRIGHT (C) FRANK REID 20187