Inside Sunderland's surprise recruitment announcement - and what's next for club and Stuart Harvey
Sunderland confirmed the departure of their long-serving head of recruitment last week
Stuart Harvey may not have been the most visible figure in Sunderland’s rebirth, but there is no doubt that he was one of the most significant.
Appointed in the spring of 2021, Harvey would become a key architect as Sunderland underwent a seismic period of change under Kyril Louis-Dreyfus and Kristjaan Speakman. Harvey’s in-tray was daunting, tasked with rebuilding his own department as well as the team on the pitch. Sunderland’s recruitment department had dwindled to almost nothing during the club’s long and painful decline, an operation that was lightyears behind most not just in its use of data and analytics but even in its more traditional scouting methods.
Having won plaudits for his role in Blackburn Rovers’s consistent overperformance at Championship level, Harvey’s arrival brought instant credibility as Sunderland set out to show the footballing world that they were now doing things differently. He brought a strong working knowledge of the markets that Sunderland needed to operate in, an immediate and respected point of contact for Premier League clubs who had seen so many young players enjoy success on loan at Ewood Park.
While Sunderland now lean heavily on data and analytics in their recruitment, it is not at the expense of the hard yards of seeing players in the flesh. Harvey spent week after week on the road, not just identifying players but being the all-important first point of contact for the club. It’s sometimes lost that those relationships remain vital even after a player has signed, with Harvey an important sounding board not just for the players themselves but their families and representatives. It was no surprise, for example, that when Amad returned to the Stadium of Light for the play-off semi final it was Harvey ushering him and his entourage in and out. Some sources say that Harvey has played an important role at times in convincing players their future remained on Wearside even as other clubs then in higher tiers began to circle.
While most clubs claim to have a collaborative recruitment model, Sunderland are one of the few examples where this is actually the case and so there is no one individual who can claim credit for the successes, or take blame for the misses. Recruitment is more evidence-based now than it has ever been but there is no exact science and no guarantees. No one gets everything right. All that can be said is that Harvey and Speakman’s hit rate in those first three windows in particular, the most important of all in this entire rebuild, was remarkably good.
From Trai Hume to Dan Ballard, Corry Evans to Nathan Broadhead, Harvey built the core of the side that would carry Sunderland on an exhilarating journey back to where they belonged. Once renowned as a basket case, Sunderland became a desired destination for young players and somewhere their own academy graduates wanted to stay. Particularly when recruiting from abroad, Sunderland made some significant errors but taking risks was a key part of the strategy when trying to take on the clubs armed with parachute payments. Those misses were more than offset by the successes, which left Sunderland in an outstanding position to invest and capitalise on their promotion this summer.
Harvey’s departure represents something of an end of an era. Football can be a ruthless business, in which succeeding can end up working at your own expense. In much the same way that many Sunderland players would end up giving up their place by winning at Wembley, building the team that won promotion to the Premier League has led to a period of transition preceding Harvey’s departure.
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What next for Sunderland and Stuart Harvey
Friday’s announcement was a surprise to some but had been in the works for a while. Sunderland were overhauling their operation even before Florent Ghisolfi’s arrival in the summer, and insiders were not particularly surprised by the developments. Though this was not Ghisolfi’s call as such, there’s no doubt that his presence is a contributing factor. Landing Ghisolfi following his departure from AS Roma was a major coup for Sunderland, and he is said to be a very hands-on presence behind the scenes at the Academy of Light.
There was a vast amount of work to be done this summer to get Sunderland’s squad ready for the Premier League, and to do so the club leant on every contact they had in the building. The closing of the transfer window has allowed some time and space to take stock and look ahead to the next phase, bringing matters perhaps inevitably to a head. The fulsome tributes from the club and Speakman last week were genuine, Harvey leaves with immense gratitude and respect for his work ensuring continuity and stability this summer. Though Ghisolfi undoubtedly brought his influence and network to bear, that Sunderland were already moving quickly and decisively in the market when he arrived reflected the preparation that had been done by Harvey, Speakman and the existing team.
Few in the game doubt that Ghisolfi will now drive the recruitment department and it would be no surprise if there are more appointments in the coming months. It’s thought that Harvey is not at this stage moving straight to another club but as one source put it to The Echo this week, his phone will no doubt be ringing off the hook. His reputation has been enhanced further by his spell on Wearside and clubs will be sensing that Sunderland’s evolution presents an unexpected opportunity. For Harvey there will be inevitable disappointment at not being able to continue on what has been an exhilarating journey, but satisfaction at a job well done and it should be said that four years in such a key role at such a big club is no mean feat in such a volatile industry.
While most of the focus has been on Sunderland’s investment on the pitch this summer, it has been an equally busy period of it. Sunderland have poured funds into upgrading facilities at the Academy of Light, as well as investing in key performance departments. The pace of change shows no signs of slowing, seen recently in the announcement of former Arsenal and Borussia Dortmund man Shad Forsythe as Head of First Team Performance. Harvey’s departure reflects the fact that Sunderland’s recruitment department is undergoing its own period of change.
There is undoubtedly an element of risk in moving away from a team and set up that performed well over a period of time, but Sunderland’s hierarchy believe that Ghisolfi can drive the club through the next phase of its development.
He inherits a strong platform, which Harvey was instrumental in building. Harvey’s success can ultimately be measured in the fact that after such a challenging period in the club’s history, the players he brought in and teams he helped build will be remembered as some of the most popular and successful in a generation. From a head of recruitment, you can’t ask much more than that.
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