Sunderland are stepping up their preparations for the new Premier League season

Sunderland will bolster Régis Le Bris’s backroom team this summer, Kristjaan Speakman has confirmed.

The Black Cats have been weighing up their options since assistant head coach Mike Dodds left to join Wycombe Wanderers earlier this year, his first role as a permanent head coach. The club opted against securing a permanent replacement at that time, promoting Alessandro Barcherini and bringing in goalkeeping coach Tom Weal on an interim basis.

The situation will be revisited this summer and further additions appear certain. Le Bris has spoken in the past about areas such as individual player development and set pieces where the club could look to add more specific expertise and focus, and promotion to the Premier League could yet open up new opportunities.

“We did some work towards the back end of the season on that and we all felt that it wasn't really the right time to make significant change,” Speakman said.

“But it did leave us a little bit light.

“I think it's testament to those members of staff, how hard they worked to fill the gaps and ensure we had a winning team. In the aftermath of success, I get to speak and Régis gets to speak, but it's really important that a spotlight is shone on those that don't who played an integral part in our success. There was some outstanding work done behind the scenes. But specifically around the coaching team, yeah, it's an area we need to ensure that we are fit for the Premier League. And as with the playing squad, that's different to what it looks like in the Championship.”

Kristjaan Speakman confirms Sunderland summer transfer plan

Speakman had earlier outlined Sunderland’s approach to recruitment this summer, admitting that the model would need to be tweaked slightly but insisting the club won’t take any major financial risks.

“When we came to the club we had a multi-year strategy about how we'd be able to get back to the Premier League, and it's about continuing that way of thinking,” he said.

“We're going to make decisions that are in the best interests of the club to try and retain our position in the Premier League, while making decisions that don't negatively impact the club in the long term. I think we've seen before at Sunderland that if you don't consider those factors, how negative that can be in the long term. I don't think it's necessarily anything different in terms of our principles, but there are clearly key decisions coming up around making sure we have a squad capable of achieving our objective of staying up.

“Everyone will point to the statistics as to how difficult it is to stay in the Premier League and we're fully aware of that, we're not naive. Our strategy in getting to the Premier League and the solutions we needed, to the ones we need to stay there, will be different. That's work we're doing at the minute but ultimately, we're going to stick to our values. We need to have a team that the community and city is proud of, we've built that in the current team and we have to have that in the Premier League.”

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