The flying start Sunderland have made to the new Championship season is, as Kristjaan Speakman attests to, shows what can happen when you draw up a plan and stick to it through thick and thin.
There were certainly times, during a difficult 2023/24 season, in which the policy introduced by sporting director Speakman and owner Kyril Louis-Dreyfus felt to be sliding more towards madness than masterstroke.
While it is hardly uncommon for clubs to focus on youth development, had the Black Cats taken things to an extreme?
Slipping to a 16th place finish with 17-year-old Jobe Bellingham leading the line, had Sunderland focused too little on experience and too much on untapped potential?
As far as Speakman is concerned, there was never any real question that a disappointing campaign would lead to a root and branch upheaval of Sunderland’s underlying blueprint.
Kristjaan Speakman says Sunderland justified with Anthony Patterson faith
While the Wearsiders did bring in a few proven Championship operators in Alan Browne, Chris Mepham and Simon Moore, the signings of Ahmed Abdullahi (20) and Milan Aleksic (19) – their only million-plus arrivals – felt like a club doubling down on their beliefs.
“You have to believe in the culture,” Speakman says. “You have to believe in youth orientated and you have to live and breath it.”
Speakman highlights the £3 million investment made in Bellingham, Chris Rigg becoming Sunderland’s youngest-ever goalscorer, and the faith they showed in Anthony Patterson when resisting the urge to bring in a more battle-scarred number one in his place.
“We have had numerous occasions [where the plan has worked for us],” Speakman points out. “Whether it is Jobe coming in, Chris Rigg as an Under-15 player training with the first-team, or Anthony Patterson.
“There was a lot of narrative about going out and getting an experienced goalkeeper in our first year in the Championship. We certainly strongly felt that Anthony deserved the chance to start the season and he’s obviously gone from strength-to-strength.”
Two years on, with the North Shields-born Patterson now one of the most consistent shot-stoppers in the division, Speakman can consider that decision justified.
HITC understands that Patterson has played his way onto the radars of Premier League giants Arsenal, Liverpool and Manchester City in recent months.
Chris Rigg and Anthony Patterson on Premier League wishlists
Academy of Light graduate Rigg has been linked while Manchester United, while Bellingham is bound to have top-flight admirers himself as Jude’s younger brother blossoms in his favoured midfield role.
And while the rumours surrounding Rigg and co with be a concern to Sunderland with promotion potentially on the line, the interest in Regis Le Bris’ key performers is testament to the club’s coaches as well as their recruitment department.
“You have to give these kids the opportunity. They have to earn this opportunity. They have to show the capability to execute the opportunity and it’s difficult!,” adds Speakman. “For our football club, [there is] huge pressure and scrutiny.
“There will be people who are skeptical. The player has to be a dreamer, has to keep the same mentality he did when he came through the door.”
Only six teams have conceded fewer goals than Sunderland this term, Patterson breached on only eight occasions.
Former England midfielder Carlton Palmer is urging Patterson to stay on Wearside for the time being as well. He argues that regular first-team football in the North East is far more beneficial for the 24-year-old’s shot-stopper than a place on a Premier League bench.