Juan Sartori responsible for Michael Beale Sunderland sacking, claims reports in South America

Was Juan Sartori the man behind the sacking of Michael Beale at Sunderland? A report has claimed he made the call.

It was actually co-owner Juan Sartori who fired Michael Beale from his job as Sunderland head coach, a newspaper in South America has claimed.

Beale was sacked on Monday after dismal defeats to Huddersfield and Birmingham left the Black Cats all but out of the Championship play-offs race.

It made the former Rangers boss the second-shortest serving Sunderland manager in the club’s history, with him lasting just 64 days and taking charge of 12 games.

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Now, respected newspaper El Pais have claimed it was Sartori who ‘picked up the phone’ to sack Beale in a feature about how the Uruguayan is balancing his political aspirations with his duties at Sunderland.

Sartori has always been a bit of a mysterious figure at Sunderland, with fans never really being able to figure out what he does behind the scenes.

However, the recently released season of Sunderland Til I Die revealed that Sartori was the crucial figure in getting Kyril Louis-Dreyfus to buy the club.

“So I’ve known Juan Satori since a few years,” Kyril Louis-Dreyfus said in the hit documentary. “We met in the Maldives on a tiny island where the staff used to play football and I decided to join in and he decided to join in.

“And then we just kept seeing each other to play football in different parts of the world. So, basically, I phoned him up out of curiosity to see how things are going and he mentioned to me how the club is for sale and if I’m interested to take a closer look at it.

“That’s when I really saw the size and the magnitude of the football club and the huge potential it has.”

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