Sunderland appoints former Rangers boss Michael Beale as head coach
The 43-year-old has signed a two-and-a-half-year deal at the Stadium of Light.
Beale had a brief spell in the Championship with QPR last season before leaving in November 2022 to join the Scottish Premiership giants.
He won 31 of his 43 games in charge of Rangers but was sacked on 1 October after three defeats in their first seven league matches of the campaign.
Beale, who has replaced Tony Mowbray as boss, takes over at Sunderland with the club seventh in the Championship, three points outside the play-off spots, following a 1-0 defeat away at Bristol City.
That loss came after successive wins under caretaker Mike Dodds, who will stay on as assistant head coach.
"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," sporting director Kristjaan Speakman told the club website.
"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."
Mowbray led Sunderland to a sixth-placed finish last season but was sacked in early December after a run of two wins in nine league matches saw them slip down to ninth in the table.
He had spent 15 months in charge of the Black Cats after replacing Alex Neil following the former Norwich and Preston manager's move to Stoke in August 2022.
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