Former Aston Villa coach to leave Sunderland

Former Aston Villa coach Michael Beale is leaving Sunderland, as per reporter Michael Walker on X.

The 43-year-old only moved to the Stadium of Light in December following the departure of Tony Mowbray.

Beale, who is from London, won four games of his 12 in charge of the Black Cats and struggled to get the fans onside.

He worked at Aston Villa under Steven Gerrard and also worked with the former Liverpool and England man at Rangers.

Beale then became the number one at QPR in June 2022 before leaving for the top job at Ibrox.

He was handed the Sunderland job earlier this winter but it hasn't worked out for him. They were beaten 2-1 away at Birmingham City last time out and have slipped down to 10th in the table, four points off the play-offs with 13 games left of the season to play.

Speaking after the weekend loss, Beale said: "We're going to have to improve. We've got some big away games. I think what we can deal with right now, is pick the bones out of this one and make sure that we get a positive performance and result next week at home to Swansea.

"Without improving our away form, you'd have to say it's going to be difficult. What I will say, is there's a hell of a lot of football to play, at some stage we're going to have to go on a run.

"We've been used to that in the last couple of seasons, making a late surge for it. We're certainly not giving up on anything with the games we've got to go. Our away form all season has been a concern."