Dodds left his position as assistant head coach with the Black Cats to take over as the new boss of League One side Wycombe Wanderers at the start of the month.
Kristjaan Speakman and Regis Le Bris assessed the options in the aftermath of Dodds’ departure and toyed with the idea of bringing in a new assistant to work alongside Pedro Ribeiro and Michael Proctor.
However, instead of bringing in a new senior figure from outside the club they opted to modify Alessandro Barcherini’s role within the existing coaching group.
Whereas Barcherini had previously been Sunderland’s senior goalkeeping coach, the Italian has now been given a more wide-ranging remit within the first-team unit.
Tom Weal has arrived from Carlisle United as a new goalkeeping coach, with his appointment freeing up Barcherini to provide more general support to Le Bris.
“Alessandro’s role will evolve a little bit,” confirmed Le Bris. “He will still be connected with the goalkeepers because I don’t think he can think about a new role without still being involved with the goalkeepers.
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“But he will now be more involved as an assistant coach, and that should be a very interesting role for him, and for the rest of the staff as well. Then Tom will obviously be involved with the goalkeepers too.”
There has also been a slight shift in Ribeiro’s role, with the assistant now assuming more of a focus on opposition analysis rather than overseeing day-to-day work on the training pitch.
“Pedro’s role has a changed a little bit with relation to the opposition analysis,” said Le Bris. “Now, he is in charge of that side of things.”
The statement that confirmed Weal’s appointment revealed that the goalkeeping specialist had only been offered a contract to the end of the season.
Sunderland intend to conduct a review of their coaching set-up in the summer before deciding whether to retain the current arrangement or look to make a new longer-term appointment.
“It is too early to think longer term,” said Le Bris. “At the moment, I think we are working well as a staff, so it is just a case of working well and enjoying it. Then, at the end of the season, we will see how things are and decide whether we need a new set-up.”
