Kristjaan Speakman outlines why Michael Beale was chosen as Sunderland's new head coach and what he'll bring

Kristjaan Speakman says he is confident that Michael Beale is the right person to drive the next stage of Sunderland's footballing development.

The club's sporting director spoke at Beale's first press conference on Wednesday afternoon and outlined the reasons why the former Rangers and QPR boss had won the race to succeed Tony Mowbray, noting his work and talent on the training pitch as a key reason.

"You have a bit of an understanding about the coaches on the circuit, and our paths had crossed a few times," Speakman said.

"We always try to ensure that we have a really good understanding of the coaches that are out there doing well, doing different things, and outperforming [expectation]. "Everything we've seen in the first two days from Michael is exactly what we thought we were getting. An excellent on-field coach, his preparations, his thought processes behind training and what the boys are doing is some of the best work I've seen.

"We're really pleased he's here. Sunderland is one of the biggest clubs in the country and will attract worldwide attention. We went into the decision with a clear understanding of what our [short]list looks like. What naturally then happens is you get bombarded from all different quarters about potential candidates. What we have is really clear criteria and a really clear process, so we then work through a really tough interview process to get the right person. You have to work through the speculation and the noise and stay laser focused on getting the right outcome, and we feel we've done that.

"We believe we're better placed now. On-pitch results will always be the barometer of how people judge that, I've always said that what you see on a Saturday is a very small part of everything that goes on. There's so much work on training, development and evolution behind the scenes and that's what we want to keep driving forward, and that's one of the reasons we chose Michael - we feel he can enhance that.

"We have to keep progressing and we know results are a huge part of that."

Speakman was pushed on the reasons for parting company with Mowbray despite the club's good results over the last year, and said it wasn't necessarily about results.

"I appreciate the question, it's a difficult one in an open forum to provide the full context," he said.

"Ultimately the club is obsessed with progression and improving, and we felt to meet that we had to make a change. Do you make it early and it's a surprise, and people are maybe concerned because it doesn't weigh up with the results? Or do you make it [too late]? Michael comes into a team that is performing well, the team is in a good spot and doesn't need picking up from a long, poor run of results. We felt it was the right time."

Beale said he was excited about working within Sunderland's structure, and became more convinced about the project as the process went along.