Michael Beale has, once again, come under fire from Sunderland fans after that disappointing defeat at Birmingham. Is the criticism fair, or does he deserve more time to turn things around?
The current head coach joined the club on the 18th of December 2023 after the departure of previous manager Tony Mowbray. Beale faced a difficult task coming into the role of head coach at Sunderland as many fans believed the sacking of Mowbray to be a mistake by the club as he was well liked by the majority of the fan base despite a drop in form towards the end of his time here. This led fans to feel his end with the club to be a disappointing one especially so far into the season. Beale would later be appointed as head coach and without a greatly promising past, many Sunderland fans yet again, felt let down by the club.
BEALE'S START AT SAFC
And so, the Beale era had begun at Sunderland, his first game in charge of the side saw a defeat to Coventry beating us 0-3 at home. This further pushed some Sunderland fans to question his appointment especially with the derby ahead. After this his side were able to secure his first win as head coach against Hull beating them 0-1 away from home which was looking to be the start of a turnaround for the club and manager. However this was not the better start hoped for as only three days later the former Rangers man overlooked a 1-1 draw with bottom team Rotherham United, again away from home - meaning it was anything but a strong start for the gaffer.
STYLE OF PLAY
Many have recognised from his start, Beale will often choose to play a less attacking style of play especially if we are ahead rather than like under Mowbray, where we took on a very forward and attacking play despite often having an advantage. Some fans have argued against this calling it an unattractive style of football whereas others believe this way of play is a safer and more sensible style for us to ensure advantage over strong sides. This left certain debate between fans and from this, some feel Beale may settle into the club over time yet many others still feel they want him out of the club.
RECENT FORM
As of writing this, Beale has seen out 12 games as Sunderland head coach yet has only managed to win four in that 12. This leaves Beale's side with only a 33.3% win ratio since his appointment as head coach. This downgrade in play has also led to us now falling out of the playoff positions leaving us 10th in the table and four points away from playoffs at the time of writing. For many Sunderland fans this is simply not good enough and through this time we have faced too many harsh defeats under Beale's coaching and still want him out of SAFC. However the club has signed Beale on until the summer of 2026 as head coach so if he is sacked Beale will then be entitled to compensation which makes his departure from Wearside even more unlikely, unfortunate for many SAFC fans.
CONTROVERSY
There has been quite a few controversies surrounding Beale in the media such as in press conferences where he has claimed his unwelcomely arrival to the club is 'because of his cockney accent' and referred to the fans as 'outside noise' showing negativity. This upset the fans even more as Beale put the supporters under fire despite his own lack in standard of play. More recently in the latest match where we lost 2-1 to Birmingham away from home, questions were again asked as he appeared to ignore Trai Hume coming off the pitch trying to give his gaffer a handshake after he was subbed off. Beale defended this after in the post match interview saying he 'didn't see him' (Hume) despite on camera Hume appearing to be in Beale's eyeline and he even appeared to take a step to let Hume past him. Many now speculate whether Beale's time at the club is coming to an end as this downward spiral continues but is it too far in the season to sack him now? Personally I believe there is still time to see the sacking of Michael Beale much like when we saw the sacking of Lee Johnson late January 2022 and Alex Neil replaced him on February 11th that year, going on to secure us promotion. I feel Beale could be sacked if the club is able to quickly have a replacement to succeed him - but the question of who comes in could be an entirely different topic!
