For decades of my life, transfer speculation around arrivals at Sunderland has been a mainstay of the close season.
Unfortunately, my age has reached a point where I can still remember the outpourings of optimism that accompanied the signings of the likes of Bob Lee and an improbably young Ally McCoist. And the almost innumerable times we signed/re-signed Bryan ‘Pop’ Robson.
In those days, despite the lack of social media, the arrival of a new player was invariably preceded by a flurry of activity in the newspapers.
And that became the expected standard - that the announcement of any new signing would merely be confirmation by the club of what everybody already knew.
In recent times, where any rumour is amplified by social media, fact and fiction have become almost interchangeable.
Soccer - Football League Division One - Sunderland Photocall Photo by Peter Robinson/EMPICS via Getty Images
One of the most refreshing aspects of how Sunderland AFC has been run over the past few years has been the break from that norm. Despite the advent of social media, we have become a club where the management are still capable of springing surprises. That only comes with the ability to conduct negotiations with other clubs in a genuinely professional manner.
It is inevitable that, given our ascendancy back to the top table of English football, there would be rumours about our intended targets. And yet, quietly, efficiently, so far we have gone above expectations in the quality of the players we have acquired - our style of doing business has put us ahead of competitors, both with players we are targeting, and with the clubs we are negotiating with.
There has inevitably been speculation, but the speed between the linking of targets and confirmation of their arrival has been startling at times. There was no reporting of links to Chemsdine Talbi until 5th July. Before that, it appears that no one in the media had any inkling that we were pursuing this young, exciting winger. Just three days later his signing was announced.
That speaks to the quiet professionalism of our recruitment team - that they enjoy the confidence of their counterparts across Europe, and beyond. The fact that our club already possesses that reputation will give the likes of Florent Ghisolfi, our new Director of Football, an opportunity to explore possibilities that perhaps would not be open to other teams.
The arrival of Simon Adingra is a case in point. It exemplifies the fact that Sunderland are a club where business will be conducted discreetly, professionally, ethically, with no unnecessary leaks to those normally ‘in the know’.
Beyond the links in the last transfer window, there was absolutely no indication that this was a deal that our club was still pursuing. Barely had the first report of any interest emerged before Adingra thoroughly disappointed our black-and-white neighbours by arriving at ‘their airport’ in a plane they were convinced was carrying Marc Guehi.
It is not just the quiet discretion with which Sunderland are going about their business though. To have six new quality signings - Le Fée, Diarra, Sadiki, Reinildo, Talbi and Adingra - all through the door before mid-July speaks volumes about the preparedness of Speakman’s recruitment team to capitalise on the Wembley playoff victory. We may never quite know how strong the links to other teams, including some of our newly promoted rivals, were, but it is clear that these are players who had significant interest from elsewhere. Those dealing with the negotiations have clearly done an outstanding job in selling the ‘Sunderland project’ to them.
There is no sense of a scattergun approach to the signings that are being made - with the exception of Reinildo, they very much fit the model of young players with potential for their value to increase. Apart from Adingra, there may be a lack of Premier League experience amongst them, but they arrive with a grounding in the best leagues in France, Spain and Italy. Someone has clearly been engaged in a great deal of homework to identify young prospects who fit the model we are still working to, albeit that this is clearly a very different phase of that model.
I would undoubtedly fall into the category of what some of our fanbase would describe as a ‘happy clapper’. I certainly never subscribed to the view that KLD had bought Sunderland in order to boost his mum’s pension fund. But when I stood at Wembley, clapping happily with my youngest as we celebrated Tommy Watson’s late winner, I had no expectations that we would see the kind of sums invested that have so far been spent. And, with over £100m already committed, it doesn’t appear that we are anywhere near done.
From the squad, through the coaching staff, to the improvements at the Stadium of Light, this summer very much has the feeling of a very thoughtfully constructed plan coming together.
And I am thoroughly enjoying it!