In his first press conference for the club, sitting alongside Kristjaan Speakman, Michael Beale set out his targets for this season whilst also paying respect to Tony Mowbray.
PREMIER LEAGUE AMBITIONS
“The club’s got a vision and processes I really believe in to get to where we all want to go, which is back to the Premier League. Every single player in our dressing room wants to go to the Premier League. It’s a young dressing room, and that’s where we think the potential of our players is.”
TARGET IS PLAY-OFFS
“Now, the front two have set a really fast pace haven’t they in terms of where they’re going, but we’re one of a group of teams who believe we can go and get into the play-offs. With where we’ve started the season and where we are now, albeit that we’ve had a bump in the road at the weekend, we should be optimistic and demand that. Our fans should demand that, and we should demand that internally. We have to demand those standards. We want to set ourselves up so that, after the March international break, we’re in a position to push and go there.”
WHY NOT DO IT AGAIN?
“Last season, playing with a slightly different style and a slightly different make-up of the group – maybe a slightly older group – we managed to get there. So, why wouldn’t we dream and push and go for that again?”
TONY MOWBRAY
“Whoever is in charge of Sunderland is expected to win games of football. I would flip it and say that the good work Tony has done and the foundations he has left means that I come in with it in a good place. The fact that we've kept the staff in place is a positive as well. I don't know Tony too well personally, but I remember many years ago we sent Ryan Kent on loan to Coventry City, where he had (James) Maddison, Adam Armstrong etc. He's always had teams that I've enjoyed watching.”
CONTINUE PLAYING IN A SIMILAR STYLE
“His team play with width and lots of freedom, that's what the fans here at Sunderland have obviously enjoyed. We're going to continue that, and hopefully add one or two extra bits on top of that. There's no doubt that Tony is a very good manager and Mark Venus alongside them, I've got a lot of respect for them both."
