How Michael Beale's short Sunderland spell unravelled - including Newcastle fiasco and post-Hull backlash

Sunderland have parted company with head coach Michael Beale after just 12 games in charge - but where did it go wrong during his short spell on Wearside?

The 43-year-old signed a two-and-a-half-year deal at the Stadium of Light in December, an appointment which didn’t go down well with supporters following Tony Mowbray’s sacking. We take a closer look at how Beale’s short tenure unravelled.

An underwhelming appointment 

When Sunderland sacked Mowbray on December 4, there was a mixed reaction from Black Cats supporters. Mowbray was a popular figure after reaching the play-offs last season, yet a run of just two wins in nine had left some wondering if he could take the club to the next level.

Sunderland’s next appointment had to be seen as an upgrade, while talk Will Still arriving from French club Reims brought a sense of intrigue among the fanbase. It suggested the club could appoint a young, up-and-coming head coach with a potentially high ceiling.

Other coaches from Europe were linked with the vacancy before Beale was eventually appointed two and a half weeks after Mowbray’s departure. Following a challenging spell at Rangers, Beale’s arrival was seen as hugely underwhelming before he’d even begun.

The derby defeat

After a chastening 3-0 home defeat against Coventry in Beale’s first match, Sunderland took seven points from their next three league games, including wins against play-off rivals Hull and Preston.

Then came the FA Cup tie against Newcastle, with emotions running high after the controversial ticket allocation and redecorating of the Black Cats Bar. While Eddie Howe’s side were always going to be big favourites, as the Premier League team, Sunderland never looked like causing an upset.

As his side were outplayed, Beale waited until the 85th minute to make a substitution during a deflating afternoon for Black Cats supporters, who were experiencing the first Wear-Tyne derby for nearly eight years.

A more conservative approach

Beale clearly wanted to make Sunderland harder to beat, with more focus on how the side set up out of possession and staying compact in the centre of the pitch.

The raw statistics actually don’t show a decline in terms of league results, with Beale winning four, drawing two and losing five of his 11 Championship games at Sunderland. For context, that is identical to the side’s previous 11 league games - under Mowbray and caretaker boss Mike Dodds.

In terms of goals, Sunderland scored 13 and conceded 13 under Beale, compared to scoring 12 and conceding 12 in the 11 league games before his appointment. Yet the stats show there was a decline in Sunderland’s attacking play, with the team averaging an expected goals figure of 1.75 per game under Mowbray in the first part of the season. In the games under Beale, the Black Cats’ average XG dropped to 0.99 per game, with fans unimpressed by the style of football being served up.

Frustrations boil over as Beale reacts

After the defeat against Newcastle, Sunderland were beaten 2-1 at high-flying Ipswich, when the away fans were chanting, ‘we want a striker’ in the middle of the January transfer window.

Frustrations then boiled over the following week, as Sunderland dominated possession against Hull at the Stadium of Light, without really posing much of a threat. When Hull’s Fabio Carvalho opened the scoring, via a deflection, 19 minutes from time, a section of the home fans in the Roker End turned on Beale, chanting ‘ you’re getting sacked in the morning.’

At that stage it was always hard to see how the relationship could be sustainable, even with Sunderland still within touching distance of the play-offs. There were fears there could be a similar reaction when the Black Cats hosted Stoke the following week. In his pre-match press conference before facing the Potters, Beale came out swinging, claiming he deserved more respect following a week of intense criticism.

"People didn't want me here in the first place,” said Beale before the Stoke fixture. “We can say afterwards that it's about style of this or style of that, let's be honest and cut to the chase, people didn't want me so I'll come and do the work and ultimately, we'll win games or we won't. That's the reality, there wasn't a feel-good factor about me coming in which is fine, you get on with the work and I'm not crying over it. I'm a big boy and I'm experienced.”

No hiding place after back-to-back defeats 

After beating Stoke 3-1, Sunderland picked up a credible 1-1 draw at Middlesbrough before another 3-1 home win over Plymouth. Yet the supporters’ view on Beale was still a precarious one ahead of away games against two relegation-threatened teams in Huddersfield and Birmingham.

At Huddersfield, Sunderland once again struggled to create many goalscoring opportunities, until a late Trai Hume chance in stoppage-time. A dismal display ended in a 1-0 at the John Smith’s Stadium.

The first-half performance at Birmingham was an improvement, yet Beale’s side couldn’t hold onto a 1-0 lead and came away with nothing. The 2-1 defeat at St Andrew’s left Sunderland four points off the play-off places, with games against promotion-chasing Norwich, Leicester and Southampton to come in their next four matches.

With that, as Beale faced more criticism, a decision was made for Mike Dodds to take charge for the final 13 games of the season, starting with Saturday’s home fixture against Swansea.