Michael Beale has revealed what he aims to achieve at Sunderland by the end of the season.
Eyebrows were raised when Tony Mowbray was sacked as manager of Sunderland over two weeks ago.
The 60-year-old spent a largely successful 17 months at the club, leading them into the play-offs last term before having them on the periphery of the top six this time around.
Kyril Louis-Dreyfus, however, chose to axe the veteran as he wanted to move in a different direction by hiring a young manager who could bring fresh ideas to the club.
Talented coaches Will Still and Kim Hellberg were both linked, but Michael Beale is the man he’s placed his faith in, despite his recent disastrous spell at Rangers.
He was sacked from his position as manager in October after a disappointing 10 months in charge, so an opportunity to manage Sunderland is one he had to grasp with open arms.
Beale inherits an unbelievably talented squad at the Stadium of Light that finds itself in a promising league position, with only three points separating them from a place in the top six.
Michael Beale outlines his targets at Sunderland this season
After taking over from the solid foundations that were laid by Mowbray, Beale insists that he won’t make ‘radical changes’ in the short term but knows the targets he has to reach.
The 43-year-old believes it’s his job to keep Sunderland in contention for the top six so they can push on at the end of the campaign and hopefully win promotion to the Premier League.
Speaking to the Sunderland Echo, he said: “The club’s got a vision and processes I really believe in to get to where we all want to go, which is back to the Premier League,
“That’s what the fans want, and the fans drive the club in terms of expectations. That’s really important. Every single player in our dressing room wants to go to the Premier League. It’s a young dressing room, and that’s where we think the potential of our players is.”
Can Beale lead Sunderland into the play-offs?
It’s difficult for supporters to get excited over this appointment given his recent malaise at Rangers, but he has spoken well since being given the role and he’ll need to translate those words into results on the pitch.
In three of their next five fixtures, Sunderland face Hull City, Preston North End and Ipswich Town, teams who are all fighting for the play-offs or automatic promotion.
It’s those potentially season-defining fixtures, in particular, that will demonstrate whether Beale and his players are up to the task.
The key to achieving positive results across could be getting Jack Clarke firing from all cylinders.
Clarke has scored ten Championship goals this term but has only netted one of those in his last eight matches.
On his day, he’s one of the best players in the division and the phenomenal star will make all the difference in their pursuit of the top six.