Michael Beale's message to Sunderland youngsters ahead of FA Cup test

Michael Beale says Saturday's Wear-Tyne derby is a huge opportunity for his players to show that they can compete at the top level in the long run, and an even bigger opportunity to do their fans proud.

Sunderland start the game as major underdogs against PIF-backed Newcastle United, and a win would represent a huge feather in Beale's cap as he bids to to build a success tenure at the Stadium of Light. Beale has overseen a solid response to the 3-0 defeat to Coventry City in his opening game in charge and a shock victory in the FA Cup could prove a huge catalyst heading into the second half of the season.

"I think there's a lot more days and matches to come before the perception [of me] is set one way or the other," Beale said.

"The most important thing for me was there was a really strong alignment between me, the owner and all the way through to the current staff. So it's been seamless, a lot of the important conversations had already happened and so we had that clarity. I think it's early days still, a lot has happened and now we're going into another whirlwind week. The focus has got to be on our young team and our young players, a lot of these players want to go on and play in the Premier League and Champions League - well they're coming up against a team that has been invested in heavily for that and has played at that level.

"What an opportunity for these young players to get that feedback [on where we're at], and what an opportunity for all of us to do our fans proud. Games like this really do remind us of how special this competition can be."

Beale has had a frantic start to life in the Sunderland dugout but says he has still had the chance to get a sense of what the derby means to the club and the city, and a well thought out Christmas present is also giving him an excellent insight into the club's proud history in the FA Cup.

"I'm reading the book on Stokoe and 1973 [Stokoe, Sunderland and 73: The Story Of the Greatest FA Cup Final Shock of All Time by Lance Hardy] at the moment, someone bought that for me as a Christmas present and that's been good for me.

"I'm having some conversations with Michael Proctor [first team coach] as well, we're the same age and when we were young, before Michael went on to have a successful career and I didn't, our paths crossed a bit then. I'm learning from him and I'm obviously getting that understanding of where we're at now as a club and what we're trying to do. There's a lot of time for all of this and learning more, until you're in a club and you start to see exactly how it works... every day is a learning day, to be honest."

The game kicks off at 12.45pm and is live on ITV.