New Head Coach

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I've just backed Thelin and Knutsjen as I don't think it'll be Beale.

Fabrizio Romano will tweet who our new manager will be at some point today imo.

I'll be surprised if it leaks out today though mind...unlikely before tomorrow's match. My guess would be Monday....of course it could be MD if we do well in Bristol.
 
Michael Beale is in advanced discussions with Sunderland to become their next head coach and talks have progressed to the stage where Beale is expected to attend their Championship match at Bristol City on Saturday.

The 43-year-old Londoner has previously managed Queens Park Rangers in the Championship and Rangers in Scotland.


Beale will not take the team in Bristol — caretaker coach Mike Dodds will remain in charge — meaning Beale’s first game as Tony Mowbray’s successor will be Coventry City at the Stadium of Light next Saturday.

Sunderland then travel to Hull City on Boxing Day. Beale’s fifth game will be the FA Cup third-round tie against neighbours Newcastle United, which comes at home on January 6.

Beale has experience from Glasgow of intense derby atmospheres. He was Steven Gerrard’s assistant when Rangers won the Scottish title in 2020-21, having met Gerrard when the two were young coaches in Liverpool’s academy. Beale had previously coached briefly at Chelsea and in Brazil with Sao Paulo.

He was appointed QPR manager in June 2022 and after a difficult start took the west London club to the top of the Championship. Wolves approached Beale in October but he declined their offer.

A month later, Rangers came in and Beale accepted the move to Glasgow following Giovanni van Bronckhorst’s exit. Beale was up against Ange Postecoglou’s well-drilled Celtic and came second in the Scottish Premiership. At the end of September, Beale was dismissed by the Ibrox club after a 3-1 home defeat by Aberdeen left them third in the table, already six points behind Celtic with only six games played.

Sunderland had conducted interviews with several candidates, with Reims English head coach Will Still the most high profile. Compensation would have been required to get Still from Reims and it seems Sunderland were put off by that.

Still’s arrival would have stimulated the fanbase. Beale’s will require some selling and in terms of results, he will need to hit the ground running. Mowbray gave the team an identifiable style and personality, while Dodds has just overseen two victories against West Brom and Leeds United. Those have taken Sunderland to sixth in the Championship.
 
Few days ago i was in a great mood.. We’d won 2 on the bounce, mags went out of Europe, talk of Will Still coming in seemed to have legs.

Fast forward 2 days - I’ve just read the “chants for the derby” thread on RTG then seen Beale is going to be the manager and now I’m f*cking dreading the 6th. Potentially getting pumped whilst our fans sing embarrassingly polite songs that sound like a 5 year olds made them up.

Ruined me weekend :emoticon-0102-bigsm
 
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FFS rather have Dodds
aye canny poor choice like special when you could of just had dodds, it just a safe pair of hands that's it, makes no sense getting rid of mowbray for him, and i'll predict we'll be back in the same place in the next year, hopefully the pull it out the bag like the last couple appointments, but canny drop from still to that mind
 
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Few days ago i was in a great mood.. We’d won 2 on the bounce, mags went out of Europe, talk of Will Still coming in seemed to have legs.

Fast forward 2 days - I’ve just read the “chants for the derby” thread on RTG then seen Beale is going to be the manager and now I’m f*cking dreading the 6th. Potentially getting pumped whilst our fans sing embarrassingly polite songs that sound like a 5 year olds made them up.

Ruined me weekend :emoticon-0102-bigsm
sunderland way mate
 
Slow, boring football with no plan B. Why interview these coaches who have a high intensity brand of football just to come back to basically a younger Mowbray?
 
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As a fellow cap wearer...I'm all in for Dodds. You'll dee for me bonny lad!!
By the way, thanks all for the messages when I was in hospital and missed the Leeds game on Tuesday. Got an all- clear on the blood front.

Excellent news mate.
Have a cracking weekend and hope the lads get a win for you.
 
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Apparently Mike Dodds has started following Mick Beale on social media over last couple of days :D

Pure coincidence mate. It's well known that all Michael's on earth know each other,and follow each other on social media,so I wouldn't read too much into it.
 
I really hope we didn’t have all our eggs in the Still basket, and got annoyed at how long compensation was taking to agree, so then decided to appoint the out of work manager to move quickly. I’d rather wait another 2 weeks and get the right guy
 
aye canny poor choice like special when you could of just had dodds, it just a safe pair of hands that's it, makes no sense getting rid of mowbray for him, and i'll predict we'll be back in the same place in the next year, hopefully the pull it out the bag like the last couple appointments, but canny drop from still to that mind
yes have to give him a chance but sure feels like a big downgrade going from Mowbray to Beale and i think we be doing it again next year again too
 
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Not my pick. I really didn't like the wag he left QPR after all the big talk about being in it for the long haul with the players, and then scarpering soon after.

But he's obviously way down any list as we could have named him the day after TM was sacked. He would have walked here that night.

Good luck to him. But this not a sign of the vaulting ambition we hear of.
 
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