Sunderland Sporting Director Kristjaan Speakman “pleased with progress” following summer transfer window

The latest North East sport headlines, from Daniel Wales.

Transcript

00:00Sunderland's Sporting Director Christian Speakman has made clear that he is very pleased with the progress

00:05that the club have made during this summer transfer window which closed on Monday

00:10in terms of preparing the Black Cats for life in the Premier League.

00:14We're really pleased with the progress we've made over the last three months.

00:18I think to come out of the window where the squad's at, I think it gives us great foundations for the season ahead.

00:24Let's rewind to the start of the window. How important was it to conclude business early?

00:28Naturally, being a play-off final winner, the window's a little bit shorter for us.

00:33We wanted to build some momentum and the quickest way of doing that is to get some high-quality players in,

00:37which we felt we did. It gives us some proof points to what we're doing,

00:41gives us something to talk about with other players and to support us.

00:44What we've hopefully done is build momentum all the way through the window right to the final day.

00:48You mentioned that momentum. It has been an excellent start to the season on the field as well.

00:52Many of those players who have come in since the season started have talked about the results we've had,

00:56the level of our performances, the atmosphere in the stadium.

00:59Something that everybody from fans, players and staff can all take great pride in.

01:03Yeah, look, we're really, really pleased with the start and the three games

01:05and the performances across all the three games.

01:07I think what's most pleasing, I think, is the players showing and demonstrating the culture.

01:13And Middlesbrough head coach Rob Edwards has reflected well on the transfer window

01:17that Borough have had this summer and said that he is pleased with the incomings brought to the club.

01:22Yeah, really pleased. I think we've done some great work.

01:27Really pleased with the lads that we've got in the building.

01:30I think they give us great strength and depth, really good quality, good people.

01:36And then we've been able to do some good work with some of the lads who were able to move on

01:41for different reasons as well. And I think that's important.

01:45I stress that as well. And we can probably talk about a couple of individuals in a bit.

01:47But, yeah, overall, really, really pleased.

01:50How important was it to show patience, especially in that early part of the window as well?

01:53We talked about it a lot, didn't we?

01:55You know, don't doubt our guys that are working really hard behind the scenes.

01:59You know, they always produce.

02:02And, yeah, as I say, it's hard. The window's difficult.

02:07Even if there's a free transfer involved, you know,

02:10there's still a number of parties that are involved in that.

02:12And no deal is easily done.