TONY GILLAN: Another head rolls at Sunderland AFC - but should it be the only one?

Customarily an organisation dealing with PR disasters finds a scapegoat, rather than punish those who are actually to blame.

Many good background workers have been shunted out of Sunderland AFC in recent times, usually to the club's detriment. But the apposite heads never seem to roll. Goats are usually scaped incorrectly.

The sacking of Michael Beale, while not in itself controversial or wrong, raises more questions for SAFC's hierarchy. Ditto the the Black Cats Bar fiasco in the FA Cup.

Ah, the Black Cats Bar. Space precludes a re-telling of that very special bit of incompetence, reminiscent of a scene from Some Mothers Do 'Ave 'Em; later deleted on the basis of it being just a tad too implausible.

Which PR guru was enlisted for that sketch? Michelle Mone? Prince Andrew? And who, in a non-hallucinogenic state, thought Beale was just the man?

Club bigwigs could have toddled into the Colliery Tavern as soon as either fiasco was mooted, taken a quick straw poll, then left the pub as enlightened, wiser men who could then forget that such exquisitely bonkers ideas had ever entered anyone's head.

But they didn't. Yet the top brass has been given a remarkably easy ride on these matters.

Reasons for December's sacking of Tony Mowbray have not been made publicly explicit. However, he possibly raised misgivings about a recruitment policy which will see a minimum two-year gap in the acquisition of a recognised striker. Whinger.

The same furtherance of "the project" now means that almost the final third of the season will be played without a manager. Ingenious.

Minutes of a recent meeting with supporters claim "that SAFC is committed to improving its service culture". Avoiding corporate waffle like "service culture" might be a start.

But at least that was engagement. The club hierarchy, unlike coaches, have the luxury of pelting out a tweet, as opposed to genuinely answering pertinent questions. And they do.

Of course it's easy to criticise the running of any football club; but at Sunderland they make it particularly easy.

It would be less easy if we heard the occasional mea culpa. Or if those to blame for monumentally la-la decisions took some responsibility and sacked themselves.