Michael Beale defends his accent in explosive blast at Sunderland fans
Under-fire Sunderland boss Michael Beale says Sunderland fans don’t want him because of his cockney accent.
The head coach has given an emotional and candid account of how it feels to be hounded by a support base who have turned on him after just seven games. He has demanded critics show “more respect” and stop “throwing negativity” at his reign.
Beale has come out fighting in an explosive interview by insisting he will win games and weather the fan protests surrounding his six weeks in charge. The ex-Rangers chief says he is “proud” of his Bromley, South London upbringing and won’t be “crying” over demands for his sacking.
He is “perplexed” by the outcry against him after he replaced popular boss Tony Mowbray and blasted: “I didn’t sack him, did I?! They won two in nine before he left so are we making out it was perfect?
“I can’t change my accent or where I am from, you know what I mean, I am proud of where I am from. I haven’t worked in London for ten years, but obviously I am from South London. Six years in Liverpool, four and a half in Glasgow, a year in Brazil. My accent hasn’t changed!
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“I am happy to be criticised if we can’t score goals or repeatedly make mistakes, but that one is a bit off. So if it is about football, fine. But I feel I deserve a bit more respect because of my journey, which deserves that.
“I think you are throwing negativity at the the youngest team in the league, with one of the lowest budgets in the league. I inherited a team two points out of the play-offs. Now it is three.
“We have lost two tough games and I don’t think the performances were terrible. Anyone saying they are, I can’t get on board with that.
Sunderland were beaten at home to Hull last week in their third straight defeat (MI News/NurPhoto/REX/Shutterstock)“So you are just throwing negativity at a football team who don’t deserve it. I think sometimes I could say less, because I could be less honest, but that is not the sort of guy I am.
“You get on with the work. I am not crying over it. I am a big boy. Personal things, when it goes personal they have lost straight away. If people want to criticise the way the team is playing I will take that.”
Beale was chosen by owner Kyril Louis Dreyfus to bring through the youngsters Sunderland hope to build value by developing as they face former Premier League teams with budgets of five times their income.
Beale added: “When I say I am bemused, everyone knows we haven’t got the biggest budget. Everyone knows where we have come from in the last two years. Play-off to get up, and we were not the most outstanding team in League One. A late run to the play-offs last year. This year we are ahead of schedule. We are not one of the top four and the ‘haves’.
“If you spend 16 years at Chelsea and Liverpool I know what expectations are. I am a young coach who went across to Brazil, so I am not worried about taking on pressure and expectation. I have just come from a massive football club, to this massive club.
“When you have a young squad there is a lot for the fans to get excited about. They are getting older every day and we are investing in their future.
“It is the best way to be sustainable but it isn’t easy or everyone would be doing it. We are five years-plus out of the Premier League, the riches are not there.
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“The club has seen real progress in the last 18 months and we are a month into it. We have to keep pushing. I want to take everything off the players. Just because of finances it doesn”t mean we should lower expectations.
“We have had a change of manager for whatever reason. It is time to get behind the team. Get behind the players.”
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