Sunderland AFC fans and FA Cup legend on Michael Beale's sacking

Sunderland fans and a club FA Cup legend have had their say on the sacking of Black Cats boss Michael Beale.

Beale was shown the door yesterday after the club's 2-1 defeat to former Sunderland boss Tony Mowbray's Birmingham City.

Fanzine A Love Supreme's Paul Dobson thought Beale's departure had been coming: "It was bound to happen - he found himself in a hole and kept digging," he said.

"It was not a good fit from the start - I would have liked him to succeed, like all Sunderland fans, and I did not understand all the personal abuse he was getting.

"He was not helped by the mess of the Newcastle game but it did not look like it was ever going to work."

Beale's decision making had been questionable, said 'Sobs': "He would play somebody one week and they would have a rotten game but he would play them the next week anyway, then when they had a good game, he would drop them."

The manager had not come over well to the fans, especially in contrast to the well-liked Tony Mowbray: "After the first press conference, I did not listen a lot more because I did not like the things he said and they way he said them," said Paul.

"Mowbray got on with the fans, he got on with the players. His interactions with the press were always light-hearted but serious at the same time. The same could not be said of Beale. The way he came across did not help."

And he felt Michael Beale had been too quick to pass the buck: "If something goes wrong, it is the manager's responsibility - players make mistakes in games, they happen. and the best teams draw more mistakes out of you."

He thought the club hierarchy had made the right decision by putting Michael Dodds in charge for the reminder of the season and giving themselves time to find a replacement: "I think they have made the choice they should have made before," he said.

"Mike Dodds did a good job with the couple of games he had in charge and he has got the experience with these particular players.

"They made a rushed decision last time."

FA Cup hero Micky Horswill agreed Beale had never seemed a good fit from the beginning, with only the timing of his departure being unexpected: "I was surprised but I think it was on the cards from the beginning. He got off to a bad start with the fans," he said.

"Anybody who knows the North East knows you need to get on with the supporters or you don't have a chance and he didn't.

"He got off on the wrong foot and it went from bad to worse.

Beale's failure to shake Trai Hume's hand after his substitution against Birmingham had proved a turning point, said Micky.

Beale apologised after the game and has denied deliberately snubbing the Northern Irish international, but Micky felt the damage was done: "I thought the Trai Hume thing was well out of order," he said.

"I don't know what had happened between the two of them but I don't think I have ever seen that, I don't think I have ever seen a manager blank a player completely.

"I felt sorry for the supporters who had travelled all that way."

Fans' Museum Michael Ganley supported the decision to put Michael Dodds in charge for the rest of the season : "I think fans will have mixed emotions but they will support the club," he said.

"The club now has got time to plan for the rest of the season and also for next season. They have got time to find a manager who will fit 100 per cent, who understands the club and understands the fans.

"The situation with Mowbray was one you didn't want to find yourself in but we now find ourselves in that situation twice in 13 weeks."

Michael Beale had paid the price for failing to get the best out of his squad: "The results just were not coming - the capability of these players is immense but you could just see there was starting to be a divide among the players," said Michael.

There had been speculation that Kevin Phillips might be in the frame for the Stadium of Light hotseat after enjoying success at South Shields and most recently Hartlepool, but Michael said he doubted Superkev would be ready to move, at least not yet: "Kevin would walk over glass to come to Sunderland, but would he do it now when he has an opportunity at Hartlepool?

"He has certainly turned them around and he may feel he has still got a job to do there."