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Kristjaan Speakman

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andy78 said:
Also got someone like Yankov who is playing regularly in Europe and is a full international, not really the club's fault he left though.
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done a bit of reading up on him the other day. Was just because of his parents moving wasn’t it that he left? Seems a fairly bright prospect mind.
 

Ale taster said:
He's on a train to the NE right now and is signing a contract tomorrow.
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Thats good,dont know anything about him,however 14 years at Brum.Unheard of in this day and age,christ at most clubs ya lucky if you get 14 months.Got to be decent to keep a job that long.
 
BumbleBee said:
Agree with a lot of what you say bit of digging into Egan's background would have been indicative IMO but I'm just a layman who played at a fairly low level for 20 years so my opinion won't carry much weight I'm afraid.
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I've watched a lot of young lads for Sunderland but it's mostly Boro who I've spoken to about the sort of age groups that I'm mostly involved with. John was one who I didn't really see until he was already at the club at about 18. He's a super technical player. It's no surprise he's playing Premier League football. I will say one thing, I'm not a scout who's paid thousands by clubs up and down the country, I watch, at best, half a dozen players a year who 4 NE clubs want me to, but at a similar time of their careers at SAFC, just before both had serious injuries, Louis Laing was expected to become the better footballer than Egan. I'm not going to say I saw any different to disprove that. John looked a very good player but Louis also looked like he could step up a few levels. It's why at 18, 19 or so you need to be really careful before proclaiming anybody to be the next .... whoever.
 
Ale taster said:
Nothing at all about him joining us. I do know he his heavily invested in Jobe Bellingham (15) brother of Jude and that it is unlikely he will leave whilst Jobe remains there.
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Unless Jobe fancies staring at tiny trees :eek: ...
 
HeroHurley said:
I've watched a lot of young lads for Sunderland but it's mostly Boro who I've spoken to about the sort of age groups that I'm mostly involved with. John was one who I didn't really see until he was already at the club at about 18. He's a super technical player. It's no surprise he's playing Premier League football. I will say one thing, I'm not a scout who's paid thousands by clubs up and down the country, I watch, at best, half a dozen players a year who 4 NE clubs want me to, but at a similar time of their careers at SAFC, just before both had serious injuries, Louis Laing was expected to become the better footballer than Egan. I'm not going to say I saw any different to disprove that. John looked a very good player but Louis also looked like he could step up a few levels. It's why at 18, 19 or so you need to be really careful before proclaiming anybody to be the next .... whoever.
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Wish I could show you my lad at 15 and 17 - drove him down to APEX in Dundalk tonight. 30 mile round trip - He'll beat the Irish deadlift record for age and height this year.
andy78 said:
We rang him up to try and get him to sign, after he had already signed for Boro.
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Welcome back - been in prison?
 
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Just caught up in the RR stories on this bloke and listened to him speak. They've obviously been given the inside story to have all of that info at hand. It feels like the club must be proud of their appointment.

This guy is obviously highly rated at Birmingham and he's spent so long there that he was obviously content in his environment to some degree. We must have sold him our project really well for him to make this jump.

This guy is not signing for Sunderland, league one club, cutting its cloth under new owners, have sold all their academy players but might put a couple of youngsters in the squad on a match day. A club that is considering dropping from Cat 1. This guy doesn't join us unless we've got vision, a plan and direction.
 
Flash Gordon said:
Just caught up in the RR stories on this bloke and listened to him speak. They've obviously been given the inside story to have all of that info at hand. It feels like the club must be proud of their appointment.

This guy is obviously highly rated at Birmingham and he's spent so long there that he was obviously content in his environment to some degree. We must have sold him our project really well for him to make this jump.

This guy is not signing for Sunderland, league one club, cutting its cloth under new owners, have sold all their academy players but might put a couple of youngsters in the squad on a match day. A club that is considering dropping from Cat 1. This guy doesn't join us unless we've got vision, a plan and direction.
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It will be interesting to see if he’s the Sporting Director, or Technical Director working with a SD.

Either way I am very glad the club recognizes that the academy is a fundamentally integral part of our club and that we need to focus on it.
 
Nelson! said:
It will be interesting to see if he’s the Sporting Director, or Technical Director working with a SD.

Either way I am very glad the club recognizes that the academy is a fundamentally integral part of our club and that we need to focus on it.
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I think he's the man, I don't see the club hiring 2 people in these positions. I'm not sure it's necessary. It's encouraging that they've gone for a man with so much experience in developing youth and developing coaches too, as opposed to someone who is seen as a transfer market first type of SD.
 
Flash Gordon said:
I think he's the man, I don't see the club hiring 2 people in these positions. I'm not sure it's necessary. It's encouraging that they've gone for a man with so much experience in developing youth and developing coaches too, as opposed to someone who is seen as a transfer market first type of SD.
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I’d agree with that. Even in the short term, we can’t go out and buy our way into the championship because of the wage cap.

If this bloke can help us bring in some under 21s that he’s aware of, either on loan from the PL/Championship or on permanent deals we can improve the squad while bringing the average age down.

And obviously long term if he gets it right we can build the club around a conveyer belt of youth players we can either make a profit on or use in the first team.
 
Nelson! said:
I’d agree with that. Even in the short term, we can’t go out and buy our way into the championship because of the wage cap.

If this bloke can help us bring in some under 21s that he’s aware of, either on loan from the PL/Championship or on permanent deals we can improve the squad while bringing the average age down.

And obviously long term if he gets it right we can build the club around a conveyer belt of youth players we can either make a profit on or use in the first team.
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I don't think there's any intention to spend big, even after a takeover. The idea will be to make solid investment with the aim of growing the club and making it sustain itself. With this fella and probably Cowley, we're looking to bring in people who have a higher ceiling and can grow with us. He surely has his finger on the pulse with talented youngsters in this country though, so a few shrewd loan moves or Maja-esque transfers wouldn't go amiss.
 
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