It's been quite the whirlwind week for new Sunderland head coach Michael Beale. The former Rangers boss was appointed as Tony Mowbray's successor on a deal until the summer of 2026, tasked with returning the Black Cats to the promised land of the Premier League.
Aside from getting lost a few times at the Academy of Light as he gets used to his new surroundings, Beale says he has no doubts that Sunderland is the right place for him and his managerial development.
The new Wearsiders' boss will have to win over the red and white faithful, many of whom were shocked by Mowbray's departure from the club with Sunderland just three points outside of the Championship play-off places.
Beale is under no illusion that rapport with supporters will come in time, but knows that winning games is the best way to do just that.
The new head coach took charge of his first session at the Academy of Light on Tuesday, December 19th after a day of meetings with the club hierarchy and meeting the players.
"Coming in, the hardest thing is me navigating my way round the building," he told WeAreSunderland. "There’s so many lots of different faces and names.
"There’s a lot of ‘mate’ going on at the minute, ‘how you doing mate?’ There’s not a lot of names going round, but the most important thing the immediate support staff, I know some of them quite well and the players, getting to see them.
"When you go into a club, the training level goes up because the players all want to impress. I’ve seen some positive signs in the first two days."
Sunderland left a positive impression on Beale earlier in the interview process, with the first meeting between the two parties key in him landing the job.
"There was no doubt in my mind, probably after the first meeting," Beale said. "It was a lengthy meeting.
"At that time the club were going through their due diligence and everything and by that time we'd had one or two more meetings. It was extensive, it was long into the day which was a good thing.
"There was a lot to talk about, to share and I was delighted. The energy to get started was huge."
After getting the sack from Rangers - the job in which many Black Cats' supporters are basing their underwhelming response to Beale's appointment on social media - the 43-year-old took time to reflect and travel to Brazil, France and Belgium.
In modern football there's no time for self pity and the new Sunderland boss used that time to take in games across the globe, reflecting and honing his approach as he waited for his next opportunity. When the Sunderland job became available, he jumped at the chance.
"It's the first opportunity that really interested me," Beale admitted. "It's the first one where you sit in the room and speak, you're hearing the way the club speaks and it's really exciting.
"It's a fantastic opportunity and it comes off the back of two periods I had at Rangers that were some of the best moments I've had in my football career to date. It's a cub that's very close to my heart.
"In Scotland there’s a style of football, same as the Championship. In each league, each country is different. I’ve been 24/7 there in the last year.
"To go across to Brazil, it was completely different. It’s the first time I’ve been back in six years since I worked there and it was nice to see that and some of the talent. I went to the Lisbon Derby which was fantastic - things I’m not able to do when I’m in work.
"Then I went across and watched four games in France and Belgium over a weekend. I’m really fascinated about football outside the UK, the second languages and things like that."
Sunderland's new look squad contains a number of foreign youngsters and Beale's knowledge of both the Brazilian and European game is already coming in handy.
"I’ve been using some lousy Spanish and a little bit less lousy Portuguese with one or two of the players in the last two days," he said. "It’s really nice. The culture gives a flavour to football doesn’t it?
"It’s really nice to travel and it was important for me to have some time to myself as well, as you can imagine when you’re in a big job, there’s opinions that come in from all over.
"I think in life to process things and the way you work, to reflect, it’s important that you take a good walk a few hundred kilometres if you like in your own shoes to take it all in. You’re better for that experience in life I think."
Well renowned for his work on the pitch, his Rangers tenure has somewhat distracted focus away from what is an impressive cv. Having worked in the youth set-ups at Chelsea and Liverpool with the likes of Trent Alexander-Arnold and Declan Rice, he knows a thing or two about developing young talent.
Something Sunderland will have paid a great deal of attention to, like they did with predecessor Mowbray. Beale has a full week of training before a hectic festive period that sees the Black Cats play four games in ten day, and he's under no illusion how busy his start to life will be.
"This is certainly an interesting week because it's the festive week as well," he said. "There's lots of extra activities in and around the club.
"There was the Christmas lunch yesterday and I got to meet the extended staff from the other departments in the club. At a Christmas function with the club last night so it's been a whirlwind meeting the players, meeting the staff, coming on my own.
"The people have been fantastic with me but that was never in doubt anyway. People are hugely proud of their club in this part of the country so I'm learning all the time. I've listened a lot to the staff in house about their views because it's fair to say, I thought the interim staff did an impressive job in the short period they were in.
"It's listening to both Michael's and Ali in terms of what's been happening within and learning how each department works. We've had two training sessions as well but I'm really looking forward to the game at the weekend.
"I think it's a difficult game, they got to the play-off final last year and will have the same ambition as us. That's a fantastic way to end my first week here with that game at home."
The age of Sunderland's young side has been well documented in the past two seasons, but Beale admits the likes of Jobe Bellingham show maturity beyond their years and it's not until you get close to them on the training pitch, you realise just how young they are.
Nonetheless, the quality of the group and his new surroundings have not come as a surprise, but he knows that he's now tasked with unlocking the full potential of the group.
Beale said: "Watching the team on TV you know they’re young and then they stand in front of you and you actually realise how young they are.
"Jobe plays well above his age, doesn’t he? Then when he stands in front of you he’s a young boy. I’ve never worked with any of the players before.
"I’ve had some conversations with Patrick Roberts in the past seeing him through on his development and stuff, so that’s been nice. The first thing is the facility inside, it was obviously a fantastic facility 20 years ago when it was built and it’s been added to.
"You see the room we’re in now, the canteen and everything, it’s a Premier League training ground. It’s fantastic the facilities we have and as staff, I think we’re trying to remove all the excuses to allow the players to perform.
"The food is top, the support is top, all the departments are top. That’s mainly Kristjaan’s role above us all, in his role ensuring you’ve got the right people in the right positions to help these players and that’s what we’re trying to do."
For the aforementioned Kristjaan Speakman, this week has only strengthened his belief the club made the right, yet very difficult decision to part ways with Mowbray. Time will tell whether that call is the right one, but there've been early positive signs on the training ground.
"You have an understanding about the coaches on the circuit in England and mine and Michael's path had crossed a few times," Speakman said. We try to make sure we have a really good understanding about the coaches that are out there, doing well, doing different things, coaches that are out performing.
"Everything we've seen in the last two days, everything we thought we'd be getting from Michael in terms of an excellent on the field coach, his preparation, his thought processes behind the training and what the boys are doing, it's some of the best work I've seen and we're really pleased to have him here.
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"He’s an on the grass, excellent young coach and one of the best in the country around that. Certainly in terms of his experience, he’s worked with some of the best players, he’s seen good, he’s seen great, he’s seen foreign and English players.
"I think he understands young footballers and football in general. There’s the experience as well. We’ve been able to acquire someone that’s got Premier League experience, international experience, who’s worked across the youth development programme and also worked at a couple of really big clubs in England and Scotland.
"When you start to look at all of that, it’s an incredible cv and we’re really fortunate to be able to get him to work at Sunderland."
All eyes are now on that clash with Coventry City.
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