A lot has been said about Sunderland since the club parted ways with Michael Beale on Monday, with the hierarchy coming under the spotlight.
Sunderland sacked Michael Beale on Monday after just 12 games in charge.
The 43-year-old won four of his 12 games at the helm but lost his final two; against relegation candidates Huddersfield Town and then Tony Mowbray’s Birmingham City.
Sunderland fans largely disliked Beale. The former Rangers and QPR boss made several comments which angered fans and faced an uphill battle to win their approval very early on.
And whilst the majority of fans are glad to see the back of Beale, there’s an argument that the Sunderland owners have acted hastily.
Tim Sherwood says Sunderland expectations ‘too high’
Speaking on the No Tippy Tappy Football podcast this week, pundit and former player and manager Tim Sherwood had his say on the Sunderland saga.
He thinks that expectations of Sunderland owner Kyril Louis-Dreyfus are ‘too high’, saying:
“It’s the expectations of the football club. Perhaps the owners there now, their expectations levels are a little bit too high.”
Since Louis-Dreyfus’ arrival at the Stadium of Light in 2021, Sunderland have earned promotion from League One, then securing a top-six finish in the following Championship campaign.
He’s also backed the club in the transfer market, spending well last summer and in last month’s transfer window too.
If expectations aren’t high, they’re too low
The Championship is a minefield. For clubs like Sunderland who haven’t been in the Premier League recently and don’t have the luxury of that wealth, there needs to be a different approach.
For Sunderland, it’s buying players and selling them on for huge profits. And they look set to make some huge profits in the summer too.
With that arguably comes an increase in expectations. Louis-Dreyfus and Kristjaan Speakman have done a largely decent job over the past few years and after the club’s top-six finish last time round, followed by a solid summer transfer window in which keeping their best players was their best bit of business, expectations for this season are rightly high.
So when Beale’s Sunderland are then losing against Huddersfield Town and Birmingham City who’ve been toying with the drop zone for the past few months, it falls well below expectations.
Not only that, but Louis-Dreyfus would’ve been well aware of the discontent between fans and Beale, so whilst Beale may have deserved slightly more time in the eyes of many, the defeat vs Birmingham City was a good chance to part ways with him.
He wasn’t the long-term answer and who that person might be remains to be seen.
But, contrary to Sherwood’s comments; whoever comes in will know that expectations are high because Sunderland have some very good foundations in place, and the potential in the playing squad to reach the top flight very soon.