'Finger must be pointed firmly at the Sunderland hierarchy,' says former Black Cats star

Don Goodman says the buck must stop at the top when it comes to analysing Sunderland's disastrous Michael Beale appointment

Former Sunderland striker Don Goodman says the ‘finger must be pointed firmly’ at Kristjaan Speakman and Kyril Louis-Dreyfus for the failure of the Michael Beale appointment.

Beale was sacked as Sunderland head coach on Monday after just 12 games in charge, becoming the second shortest serving permanent manager of head coach in the club’s history.

Goodman, though, says no one should be blaming Beale for the way it went, saying the club placed him in a difficult position from day one and their policy of prioritising youth development hamstrung him further.

'We take full accountability' - Sunderland chief admits Michael Beale error

“It's never pleasant when a manager loses his job,” Goodman told Sky Sports. “It's always hard when you are taking over from somebody who was very popular, whose style of football was enjoyed.

“It means you have to hit the ground running and that never happened for Michael Beale unfortunately.

“The reason Sunderland [appointed Beale] was because Michael has a brilliant reputation developing young players and unfortunately it didn't work out for him.

“I think part of that is he was under pressure from day one and another is that the strategy of only purchasing and playing young players, there comes a point where you have to accept the inconsistency because that's what happens. There aren't any real leaders.

“They're not out of the promotion race - four points off a play-off spot - but they've got some hard games coming their way.

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“They are up against it and my finger would point firmly at the hierarchy for being a little bit closed off to investigate the possibility of bringing in a bit of experience.

“They'd been doing brilliantly to get in the play-offs last season for a team that was promoted from League One to the Championship, but with that comes expectation and there was a lot of expectation for Sunderland to be challenging for a play-off spot.

“They're just about in it still but have made it harder than it should've been."

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