Sunderland U21 coach Graeme Murty worked with Michael Beale for three years at Rangers under Steven Gerrard and has backed him to succeed on Wearside.

Plenty of eyebrows were raised when Michael Beale was appointed as the new manager of Sunderland on Monday night to replace Tony Mowbray.

The 43-year-old's stock has taken a dramatic tumble since he departed QPR in November last year to take the job at Rangers.

Beale was expected to guide the Scottish giants to only their second league title in 12 years but that didn't work out as planned.

After finishing seven points behind Celtic last term, he made a terrible start to this campaign with three defeats from their first seven matches and was ultimately sacked after ten months in charge at the start of October.

Despite failing in Scotland, Graeme Murty has backed Beale to be a success at the Stadium of Light and has revealed what he's really like on the training pitch.

MORE SUNDERLAND STORIESSpeaking to the Chronicle Live, he said: "I've worked with Michael at Rangers, I've seen him as a member of staff there with Steven Gerrard," said Murty.

"He's a very detailed, very talented, coach who is very, very good on the grass.

"He's open and inclusive.

He'll have clear ideas about what his team is going to be looking like and the identity of the team going forward, so it will be interesting to see how the first team players respond to it and how the team and the squad evolves.

"Whilst there were several murmurs of discontent over Beale's arrival, it is refreshing to see someone close to him outline the talent and attributes he brings to Sunderland.

Sunderland supporters should give Michael Beale a chance Understandably, many of a red and white contingent aren't sold on this appointment, especially after they were sold the dream of Will Still, but they should give him a chance.

During his time at QPR, he was praised for leading them to a solid start, departing the club in November 2022 when they were in seventh position.

With a play-off charge on the cards before his departure, it was billed to be a promising season for the club with Beale at the helm.

He played attractive football and got the best out of attacking players Ilias Chair and Lydon Dykes.

If he can adopt similar principles at the Stadium of Light and get the strikers firing, it could be an exciting second half of the season for Sunderland.

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