Sunderland Hoping Michael Beale Can Help Black Cats’ Promotion Push

Published: 20th December 2023 12:08

Sunderland Hoping Michael Beale Can Help Black Cats’ Promotion Push

 

Sunderland has appointed Michael Beale as the club’s new head coach on a two-and-a-half-year contract. The Englishman takes over from Tony Mowbray, who was sacked in early December. 

 

🤝 Sunderland AFC is delighted to announce the appointment of Michael Beale as the Club’s new Head Coach.

— Sunderland AFC (@SunderlandAFC) December 18, 2023

 

Beale joined the Black Cats ahead of a busy period of action in the Championship. His side are just outside the play-off places in the standings. He will be hoping to give them a lift going into the new year and get their promotion target back on track.

Six Years Since Premier League Exit

It has now been six years since Sunderland were last in the Premier League. Beale's job will be to get them back there. As the former Aston Villa assistant manager, he will know all about the standard needed for the league, which has been dominated in recent years by Manchester City, who are the 6/5 favourites in the EPL betting odds for the title this season.

Burnley, Luton Town and Sheffield United were all promoted from the Championship last season, and they are proving popular EPL tips this season, as they have shown they can pick up big results in the league. 

Beale's task this season will not only be to earn promotion, but he also has to think ahead about putting a squad together that can compete in the Premier League, just like Burnley, Luton Town and Sheffield United are all doing.

Didn’t Work Out at Rangers

This new role is the opportunity for Beale to prove himself again after a disappointing spell with Rangers in the Scottish Premiership. He spent just 10 months at Ibrox, and his dismissal came following a third defeat in seven games for the Gers.

Rangers could only finish runners-up in the SPL last season. They were seven points behind rivals Celtic at the end of the campaign. They were also beaten in the final of the Scottish League Cup by Celtic in February.

 

Rangers sack manager Beale after poor run of results https://t.co/QOKCHu3RNY pic.twitter.com/MOXuV2FWHd

— Reuters (@Reuters) October 1, 2023

 

A poor start to the latest campaign means Rangers already have a deficit to make up on Celtic in the table. Rangers felt they needed to go in a different direction to Beale and have since appointed former Club Brugge and Monaco manager Philippe Clement as their new boss.

Return To The Championship

The job at Sunderland means Beale makes a return to the Championship, a league he knows well. He was in charge at QPR between June 2022 and October 2022 in what was his first managerial role.

QPR made an excellent start to the 2022/23 season under Beale. They led the Championship standings in October, and it led to interest from several clubs for his services. He rejected the chance to join Wolves in the Premier League but could not resist the opportunity presented to him at Rangers.

Beale was chosen by Sunderland following an extensive search for Mowbray’s replacement. They eventually went with the former QPR and Rangers man following discussions about his vision for the club.

Sunderland has a lot of work to do to reel in the top two teams in the Championship table, but Beale will be hoping his side can finish in the play-off places at the end of the campaign at the very least.

Report this article as inappropriate

Comments

You need to log in before you can do that! It's only a quick registration process to join the AMA network and completely free.