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."

Speakman's plan is to then build a system that can allow the Black Cats to make smarter decisions in the long run.

"What we then have to do is have a system in place behind that to try and identify talent, make sure that we've got a balance between identifying and being able to put some analytic measure on external talent and internal talent - so don't overlook what's already in your building because it looks a little bit nicer outside and you don't know it," he said.

"That'll be three or four different processes. The head coach will be able to say 'I like this player', put him into the system, what does the system say about that player, versus maybe the recruitment team have identified another player who nobody knows.

"It can't just be one strand and one viewpoint, it's got to be multiple strands coming into it.

"But ultimately when it gets to that decision it'll be the head coach, myself and the head of recruitment thrashing out a discussion of what is the best choice.

"Sometimes it'll be that the head coach says 'I really want this one'. As long as that fits the medium to long-term goal - and obviously that depends on the contract length - then we have to get the players the head coach wants.

"Sometimes in this situation as well, the head coach might want a player but another player comes up within the select and engage phase and he might say 'actually, I'd prefer that one'. You've got to get a balance.

"You can't just allow players to come into the club that aren't going to meet the next stage of the club, especially if the club is signing players on three, four-year contracts.

"But at the same time, they have to be fit for purpose and Lee has to believe in the team and the squad that he has at his disposal."

Speakman says that Sunderland remain firmly committed to trying to land an automatic promotion place this season, and so has not ruled out short-term additions next month to help Johnson try and achieve that goal.

He insists, however, that the club will not commit to any deal that could prove to be costly, both for the club and any player, past the end of this season.

"There's so many scenarios that can play out with it," he explained.

"The context at the minute is that the club is absolutely determined to get a number one or two spot in this league, no-one has given up on that objective and rightly so. Then it's what does the team need?

"So we make a judgement at the minute of what the team needs, and then we look at what can fit that. It might be we have to take short-term options, it might be we can find a long-term option.

"I think it's just getting that balance between a situation where maybe the head coach wants that short-term option but we sign him for longer than we need to and then we end-up with the baggage of players in contract who are not part of the plan long-term.

"Ultimately, as much as people will say players have a financial motivation, we all have a financial motivation, you don't see many players who are sat around happy doing nothing.

"It's getting something that fits for everyone and having a process and being sensible about what everyone is going to get."

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