NEW CHAMPIONSHIP MANAGER REVEALED

BREAKING: Sunderland turn to Beale to aid promotion push
By Mitchell Fretton

Sunderland have appointed Michael Beale as their new head coach until the summer of 2026.

The Black Cats believe the ex-Rangers boss is the right man to lead them back to the Premier League after parting ways with Tony Mowbray earlier this month.

Beale, who left the Gers two months ago, said: "It's a huge honour to be joining the Sunderland family.

"The existing coaching team deserve huge credit for the way they navigated the interim period.

"Like all of the staff at the club, they will continue to be vitally important moving forward alongside the incredible fans that make SAFC such a unique club.

"It's clear there is some excellent work being done at senior and academy level and I'm excited to support those efforts and implement my own ideas as we build on the strong identity already established within the club."


Mowbray guided Sunderland into the play-offs last season but struggled to replicate those standards this term.

However, the recent form of Jobe Bellingham and leadership of temporary boss Mike Dodds means the Tyne and Wear club still have a shot at promotion.

Ahead of their next game against Coventry at the Stadium of Light on Saturday, the Black Cats sit seventh in the Championship table.

Sporting director Kristjaan Speakman said: "We have monitored Michael's career for some time and we are delighted to have reached an agreement for him to become our new head coach.

"He has an excellent and well-founded reputation for developing players and he is an outstanding progressive coach aligned with our playing identity and naturally fits within our structure alongside Mike and the wider team.

"We continue to trust in our established process of identifying the right candidates to take us forward at these junctures and although Michael has had a setback, we feel we are getting him at the right time in his coaching journey and our journey as a club."

Beale has previous Championship experience having impressed as QPR boss between June and November 2022 before leaving to take the reins at Ibrox.

Yet his time in Scotland was less successful, failing to win a trophy with Rangers before being sacked after just 10 months in charge.

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Seems like a decent appointment. Did well at QPR but struggled up in Glasgow with Rangers.

Not sure I agree with their decision to sack Mowbray though. They made him bring the age of the squad down and they made the top six last season after only just being promoted from League One.

Michael Beale says "I got pulled in different places" before being sacked by Rangers and is looking forward to being just a head coach with Sunderland.

The 43-year-old Englishman has signed a two-and-a-half-year contract with the Championship club after the departure of Tony Mowbray.

Beale left Ibrox in October.

"I want to be the coach of the team, not the manager of the whole football club," he told Sunderland's website.

Rangers lost director of football Ross Wilson to Nottingham Forest in April, with Beale taking much greater control of summer signings.

"I went into QPR as a head coach and originally went into Rangers in the same role," Beale said. "There was a lot of changes with people leaving and I got pulled in different places.

"The thing that I'm really comfortable with here is the alignment through the club - my role being in line with that as a head coach and having an opinion and idea on other aspects of the club, but I want to be the coach of the team, not the manager of the whole football club."

Beale, who had previously been assistant to Steven Gerrard at Ibrox, left Queens Park Rangers to return to the Scottish Premiership club in November 2022.

He won 31 of his 43 games in charge but was sacked after three defeats in their first seven league matches of the campaign.