ALEX Neil will continue to work as Sunderland's head coach on the agreed 12 month rolling contract as the club's Sporting Director Kristjaan Speakman insists all parties are happy with the arrangement following end of season talks.

Following the Black Cats promotion to the Championship, there has been calls from supporters for the club to extend Neil's stay and reward him for his efforts with a longer term deal.

After the win at Wembley, Neil spoke openly about his future and declared his desire to stay at the Stadium of Light. However, he did admit he would see the assurances from the club's hierarchy that he would be 'given the tools he needs' to be competitive in the Championship.

Since the season ended, Neil has held those conversations with Speakman and club staff about those assurances. "We've got a lot of clarity around what we are, how we're working and what the strategy is" said Speakman.

"Naturally it's a big step up the Championship because it's a completely different entity. Alex has managed in the Championship and he understands what the requirements are, and it's about how we make the transition.

"I think we're really aligned on how we do that. I spent all of Sunday night speaking to Alex about how we do that, all of Monday morning about that. We see a lot of it very, very similarly.

"It's then just about executing it. I think it's natural that any head coach (would want clarity). We hadn't had loads of discussions about the Championship because we had to be respectful of the fact that we have incredibly tough games against Sheffield Wednesday in play-off semi finals, and then again against Wycombe in the final.

"My job is to plan for the future and his job is to try and win those games. That's where that balance is between the head coach implementing what we're trying to do and getting the team in the best position, which has been incredibly good at doing, and then for the likes of myself, Stuart (Harvey), Steve (Davision) getting us in a position so that we're not starting from scratch. That's effective organisation.

"We ran a really rigorous recruitment process because we wanted to get the right person for the job. Alex has demonstrated he was the right person."

While the club have reaffirmed their stance to keep Neil in charge, their won't be an extension to his current deal with all parties happy to continue as things are.

The Northern Echo quizzed Speakman about fans clamour to tie the head coach down. Speakman explained some of the intricacies of manager's contracts as he continued: "I absolutely understand the sentiment of the question. Take Alex out of the equation for a second and talk about the principle of it. You see people all the time come out and say, it's a six-year contract or it's a four-year contract or however long. But there's a three-month pay off... so it's a three-month contract!

"You can sell an agreement any which way you want. What's important is that all the individuals involved are happy with the agreement, and with a 12-month rolling contract, Alex is tied down.

"Alex has been an incredible part of our journey and he deserves every accolade he's getting. To get to the final position we got to in the league took an incredible effort, no one has had to get that many points to get that position before. He's a fundamental part of what we're doing. At the minute, everyone is happy (with the contract)."