Sunderland urged to look at Portsmouth manager John Mousinho to replace Mick Beale | OneFootball

This article is part of Football League World’s ‘Terrace Talk‘ series, which provides personal opinions from our FLW Fan Pundits regarding the latest breaking news, teams, players, managers, potential signings and more…

Sunderland are on the hunt for a new manager after the sacking of Michael Beale.

The Black Cats controversially made the decision to replace Tony Mowbray with Beale in December, but it did not work out for the 43-year-old at the Stadium of Light.

Many Sunderland supporters were underwhelmed by Beale's appointment, and he struggled to win over the doubters during his two-month spell at the helm.

Beale's final game in charge was the 2-1 defeat at Birmingham City on Saturday, and he departs after winning just four of his 12 games in charge, drawing two and losing six.

Mike Dodds, who won two of his three games as caretaker manager prior to Beale's arrival, will take charge until the end of the season to give the club time to consider the next appointment.

Sunderland currently sit 10th in the Championship table, four points from the play-off places, and they are back in action when they host Swansea City on Saturday.

Sunderland fan pundit on potential Michael Beale replacements

FLW's Sunderland fan pundit Jack Austwicke admits it is tough to know who should replace Beale, but he believes that Portsmouth manager John Mousinho could be one option.

"You would think it will be Dodds until the end of the season," Jack said.

"He came in after Mowbray's sacking and did an alright job, a couple of wins.

"Annoyingly we were having this exact same conversation two months ago about Mowbray's replacement and I didn't know then.

"As much as Beale isn't the man, I'm not entirely sure who is, maybe a decent, up-and-coming manager like John Mousinho at Portsmouth. "I don't know, I'm just plucking names out of a hat here, it's hard to say. "Back in for Will Still? Who knows, we'll see how that one goes. "But they have to get this one right, they got Lee Johnson wrong, Alex Neil and Tony Mowbray were good appointments, and they got Beale wrong as well.

"They have to get this one right because we are at serious risk of throwing our season away, and if it's a bad manager, then who knows what can happen next season with the likes of Clarke, Neil and potentially Ballard all sold."

John Mousinho would be an exciting appointment for Sunderland

It is difficult to disagree with Jack that the Sunderland board are facing a huge decision on Beale's successor.

The appointment of Beale was widely criticised by Black Cats supporters, and his time in charge proved to be a disaster, so the board cannot afford to make another mistake.

It is a sensible decision to place Dodds in charge until the summer, and after the impressive job he did as caretaker in December, he could be the man to guide the Black Cats to the play-offs.

Dodds has a big chance to secure the job on a full-time basis, but should the club opt against appointing him permanently in the summer, Mousinho would be an excellent option.

Mousinho has done an outstanding job at Portsmouth, with his side currently sitting top of the League One table, and they look on course to achieve promotion to the Championship this season.

It may be tough to convince the 37-year-old to make the move to the Stadium of Light if Pompey are promoted, but he should certainly be one name under consideration.