Beale appointment an experiment that was destined to fail

WOW! The mad football industry has struck again with the sacking of Michael Beale at Sunderland.

It always did seem an experiment destined to fail. Here is a man who had not done a great deal at Queens Park Rangers and even less at Rangers before being handed the job at the Stadium of Light.

It seemed Sunderland fans were calling for his head almost immediately and the appointment was never a popular one. “You’re getting sacked in the morning” rang out from home supporters in the Black Cats’ 1-0 defeat to Hull City on January 19. It was only his seventh game in charge.

Since that day he seemed to have turned a corner with successive home victories against Stoke

City and Plymouth

Argyle sandwiching a 1-1 draw at

Middlesbrough.

The goodwill shown towards

Beale the man was there for all to see against Plymouth when the fans got behind him in support of his fouryear-old niece

Poppy when it was announced she had suffered a relapse in her battle with leukaemia.

But on a professional basis, even he admitted there would be questions over his future once again at the weekend after Sunderland lost at Birmingham

City, which came hot on the heels of a 1-0 reverse at Huddersfield Town. Four Championship wins from 11 attempts – plus a home defeat to fierce rivals Newcastle United in the FA Cup – were Beale’s lot. He was appointed o n December 18 and was sacked on February 19. Two months.

In one sense, for him, it must seem like it’s all over in the blink of an eye. In another, the sheer weight of pressure on anyone who managed such a huge club must sit heavy when you know your face doesn’t fit.

In that regard it must feel like it’s been an absolute age. It’s staggering how events have turned against him so dramatically in the space of two weeks.

The club confirmed yesterday afternoon that Mike Dodds is taking over until the end of the season.

Is that an admission that the club have given up hope of reaching the play-offs?

Or does it mean they think Dodds has a better chance of reviving Sunderland’s chances than Beale?

It also makes all talk of the next manager irrelevant because it seems that won’t be happening until the summer.

One thing is for sure, the fall-out will take a while to digest for all parties.