Leeds United, Leicester City and Ipswich Town's Championship rivals confirm appointment of new head coach

Leeds United's Championship rivals Sunderland have confirmed their new head coach after their recent sacking of Tony Mowbray. There have been managerial changes aplenty over the last few weeks in the Championship, with a number of clubs pulling the trigger in a bid to restart their approach before the season gets away from them.

In Sunderland's case, their decision to sack Tony Mowbray caught many by surprise, given the veteran boss guided them to the play-offs last season, while he also had them within three points of the top six when he was handed his P45. The Black Cats have since moved to within a point of the top six, and they now have a new head coach secured.

The Wearside club have confirmed the appointment of former Rangers and Queens Park Rangers boss Michael Beale. Beale left Rangers after less than a year following a disappointing start to this season, but he has quickly returned to management.

Sunderland sporting director Kristjaan Speakman has said of the appointment: “We have monitored Michael’s career for some time and we are delighted to have reached an agreement for him to become our new Head Coach. He has an excellent and well-founded reputation for developing players and he is an outstanding progressive coach, who is aligned with our playing identity and naturally fits within our structure alongside Mike Dodds and the wider team.

"We continue to trust in our established process of identifying the right candidates to take us forward at these junctures and although Michael has had a setback, we feel we are getting him at the right time in his coaching journey and our journey as a Club.”

After his arrival was confirmed, Beale added: “It’s a huge honour to be joining the Sunderland family and I would like to thank Kyril, Kristjaan and the rest of the Executive Team for the faith and responsibility they have placed in me. The existing coaching team deserve huge credit for the way they navigated the interim period and like all of the staff at the Club, they will continue to be vitally important moving forward alongside the incredible fans that make SAFC such an historic and unique Club. It’s clear there is some excellent work being done at senior and academy level and I’m excited to support those efforts and implement my own ideas, as we build on the strong identity already established within the Club.”