Following the dismissal of Tony Mowbray, Sunderland have appointed Michael Beale as their new Head Coach. He sat alongside Sporting Director, Kristjaan Speakman, as he was unveiled to the media. Daniel Wales was in attendance.
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00:00 Former Queens Park Rangers and Glasgow Rangers boss Michael Beale has been appointed as the
00:08 new Sunderland head coach. He has signed a contract at the Stadium of Light that will
00:13 keep him there until 2026. Much has been made by Sunderland supporters on social media about
00:21 Beale's appointment and this was his chance to set out his aims at the club.
00:29 After he was asked about his and the club's aims for the rest of the season.
00:36 I would like to play part of, not me, part of a collective management of staff if you like to help this group of football players fulfil their potential.
00:47 The utopia would be to do that together and go to the Premier League, that's what we're all aiming for.
00:53 And I'm sure there's some one or two players within our squad that are liked by teams there and are going to try and come and knock on our door.
01:01 Beale then spoke about what supporters can expect from him as head coach.
01:06 I really like the freedom the team's got already, that's how I see football as well. A lot of interchanging of positions in the final third.
01:15 We have to be just as good out of possession, that's fair to say. In this league we have to be just as good out of possession as we are in it.
01:22 We've got lots of interesting types of players, the style of football won't change.
01:27 Finally, Beale made clear that signing the contract was an easy decision.
01:32 Yeah, 100%. There was no doubt in my mind, probably after the first meeting. It was a lengthy meeting.
01:41 At that time the club obviously were going through their due diligence and everything.
01:46 By the time we'd finished with one or two more meetings, it was extensive, it was long into the day, the meetings, which was a good thing.
01:54 There was a lot to talk about and a lot to share. I was delighted.
01:59 Alongside Beale was Sunderland's sporting director, Christian Speakman.
02:04 I asked whether the club was prepared to persist with their misfiring striking options or invest in new strikers in January.
02:13 We certainly want to convert some of our dominance into more goals.
02:18 If you look at the team that Michael took at Rangers, you're talking about a high possession team, great teams, down to play the low blocks.
02:26 There's a lot of similarities in terms of some of the more recent opponents that Michael's played against.
02:31 From a coaching standpoint, we can come and sprinkle some different ideas about how we can be more effective there.
02:37 Certainly, from a transfer window perspective, the club's always invested either in the short or certainly in the medium/long term around trying to improve the quality.
02:46 We'll continue to approach that. We've been on with that piece of work since the transfer window closed.
02:52 That will be alongside everything we've done in the recent weeks.
02:55 Plenty of football still to be played this season, but Beale has the foundations on which to build at Sunderland this year.
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