Editor’s Reaction: The whole situation surrounding Michael Beale has been an unfortunate mess

Well, he’s gone — Michael Beale is out on his ear after just nine weeks in the job.

Even by Sunderland’s standards, this has been a catastrophic mess.

We’ve wasted the last twelve games on a bloke who should never have been appointed. And I hold no real ill-will towards Michael Beale, because I don’t really blame him for taking the job, but he was snookered before he’d even had a chance to get a foot through the door. The majority, rightly or wrongly, didn’t want him and were never going to have him.

The thinking behind the decision to part ways hasn’t been made completely clear — I thought the club statement was worded clumsily and they tried their best to not use words like “sacked”, “resigned” or “left by mutual consent”, so we’re still really non the wiser about the circumstances that have led to him leaving — but what we do know is that he’s departed, and in his place they’ve stuck Mike Dodds, until the summer at least.

I gave Beale a fair crack of the whip and, even as of this morning, was happy enough to leave him in place to actually try and do his job. I know that wasn’t a view shared by many others, but that was mine — I’m in no rush to get anywhere any time soon, and despite his lack of popularity, I’m not usually one for piling in on a head coach so soon into his reign.

But, the timing is important here. He’s had just nine weeks and hasn’t managed to fully address many of the problems he inherited.

You don’t just sack someone after nine weeks if there’s not more to the situation than what it seems. Clearly, there are other things at play.

The situation with Trai Hume on Saturday was addressed by Beale — and perhaps he was telling the truth, maybe he really didn’t see him — but I can’t imagine that went down well with the players, and (unsubstantiated) rumours of dressing room unrest following the game have since surfaced.

Maybe that was the straw that broke the camel’s back — have they acted now, knowing Beale’s popularity was never likely to recover from the series of setbacks he’s suffered since walking through the door?

Perhaps.

I don’t think many people have come out of this situation looking good. In fact, has anyone? Beale himself must be wondering why he took the job. I suspect he was just naive and didn’t really understand how involved the Sunderland fanbase like to get in every single aspect of what goes on at the club — though given where he came from, a club like Rangers where the fans are just as passionate and vocal — that seems a little odd.

Our owner and Sporting Director, the men who selected Beale as their first choice candidate in the recruitment process when replacing Tony Mowbray, have suffered too and the trust people have in them to get the big calls right is waning. They are seriously under pressure to get this next appointment right, and whilst I think waiting until the summer is the best move for the club as it gives us a chance to take our time and make the right decision, I think they have to ask themselves how else they thought this would all play out given the overwhelming negativity that the suggestion of this appointment was met with.

And then there’s us, the fans. I do worry about how the behaviour of some — a minority, but still, some — supporters in recent months will look to those outside the Sunderland bubble.

I’m not talking here about the people who simply didn’t want him, because that’s absolutely fine, but I’m talking about the people who opted to make the abuse aimed at Beale personal. The name calling, the mocking of his appearance, the circulation of photoshops of him with a noose around his neck — that was just a minority of fans, but it left a big impression on me and many others who witnessed it. Thankfully, plenty of people — some who didn’t want Beale here — still stepped up and called out stuff that was uncalled for. We have a big part to play in the success of this football club and I just hope people outside of the bubble don’t view us as a basket case, because I know if it was me judging another club and another set of fans that I’d be wondering what on earth is going on there.

What I do know is that all of this has been a rank, horrible mess and being a fan of this club has been a chore over the last nine weeks. Now is our time to heal, to reevaluate, to try and move forward, and a chance to restore a bit of the pride that we’ve lost in ourselves.

This has been an unsavoury chapter in the club’s history, one that may take a bit of time to recover from. For everyone’s sake, we can only hope that this was the right decision for the long term benefit of Sunderland, and that going forward lessons are learned from the clear and obvious mistakes that have been made.