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

Kristjaan Speakman has admitted that Sunderland appointing Michael Beale as head coach did not work and said the club take the blame for that.

Michael Graham | Feb 19, 2024

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

Sunderland sporting director has admitted that ‘improvement was not evident’ under Michael Beale and said the club will take full accountability for the mistake of appointing him.

Beale was sacked by Sunderland on Monday after just 64 days and 12 matches in charge at the north east club.

That was a tumultuous time for Sunderland, with public apologies issued by Beale after his first game, a derby humiliation, a fan revolt, the head coach making accusations of fans, and ultimately a lot of bad football and decline.

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Sunderland have confirmed that Mike Dodds will take over for the rest of the season, as well as holding their hands up to the mistake of appointing Beale.

“We are disappointed that Michael is leaving Sunderland AFC," Speakman said.

“Our desire is to improve and unfortunately that hasn’t been evident, as such we take full accountability and feel that acting decisively is in the best interests of the club.

“This has been a difficult few months for Michael, who leaves with our best wishes for the future.

“Our focus is now on the players and supporting Mike Dodds in the remaining games to ensure we achieve the highest possible league finish.

“We will be updating our supporters further as and when significant developments are made.”

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Published Feb 19, 2024

MICHAEL GRAHAM

Michael Graham is a professional sports writer with more than ten years of industry experience. After pursuing football writing by helping establish the Roker Report Sunderland AFC fansite, Michael moved to Planet Sport to cover football. Michael has since worked on many of the sports sites within the Planet Sport network, including Football365, TEAMtalk and Planet Football before leaving to join 90min. As well as football, Michael is an accomplished tennis writer and has been regularly featured on Tennishead, TennisBuzz and Tennis365. It is football that is his first love, though, with Sunderland AFC his particular passion. Contact: michael@buzzpublishing.co.uk