KRISTJAAN Speakman believes Sunderland have made major progress off the pitch and are no longer a club "limping from short term strategy to short term strategy".

The sporting director says last week's retained list - with Carl Winchester the only senior player leaving on a free transfer - is evidence of how club bosses have got Sunderland's house in order.

Recent summers have seen several first team players leave for nothing after reaching the end of their contracts and Sunderland still in talks with players to try and negotiate new deals.

But this season the Black Cats got themselves in a stable position long before the end of the campaign, activating season-long extensions to the deals of Ross Stewart, Alex Pritchard and Danny Batth, while others, such as Corry Evans and Dan Neil, signed new contracts.

The next challenge for Sunderland is resolving Stewart's long-term contract situation. With 12 months left on his deal, there remains uncertainty about the striker's future, with negotiations between the club and player's representatives ongoing.

That is an obvious priority, but Speakman and fellow Sunderland chiefs believe they've put a structure and system in place that will result in more future success on the back of promotion from League One and a top six finish in the first season back in the Championship.

Speakman said: "You want to have well structured contracts. The nature of where the club was when we inherited it, it was limping from short term strategy to short term strategy, which is never ideal. We've certainly tried to build a squad that has some longevity in it and naturally when you acquire talented players you want to try and retain those talented players for as long as possible.

"There might be an end date to that, whether a contract runs to the end or you sell a player but we think we're in a really good spot.

"We have a lot of work to do, we're not being complacent in any shape or form, but we certainly think we're in a rhythm and way of working which will hopefully give us some future successes."

Winchester's confirmed departure last week came on the back of a season long loan at Shrewsbury. He was a key player in the League One promotion winning campaign but having only played once for the Black Cats this term, his summer exit was inevitable.

Speakman said: "Carl is a top guy. Over the past two and a half years we've relied on certain individuals coming into the football club and really embracing what the club is about and driving it forward. Carl is one of them.

"I've had some really good conversations with him over the past month over what his future looks like. And I'd like to say a big thank you to him because he's really embraced Sunderland on and off the pitch.

"If you consider the fact he came as a centre midfielder by trade but executed the right back position for a full season to a really high level that got us into the Championship. I think he understands how highly we respect him."

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Part of Sunderland's planning for the future and beyond has included sitting down with individual players and listening to their feedback.

"We felt a professional debrief at the end of the season was important," explained Speakman.

"Last year we missed that a little bit, the celebrations at Wembley, people getting off on holiday, a really short close season, maybe there wasn't as much of a necessity at that point to dive into it.

"But we felt this season, giving players the opportunity to feedback on their thoughts, what they thought went well, what didn't, what they want to improve on and for us to give them that feedback away from the week to week games programme was important, and we could be honest and authentic with where we see them and our hopes for next season.

"That's been really well received and I have to say I thought the players were excellent as well as the staff. It was a top class piece of work."