Michael Beale reunites with Steven Gerrard as Al-Ettifaq assistant coach

Former Rangers and Sunderland manager Michael Beale has been appointed as assistant coach to Steven Gerrard at Saudi Pro League club Al-Ettifaq.

Beale, 44, reunites with Gerrard, having previously served as his assistant at both Rangers and Aston Villa. The duo achieved notable success in Scotland, guiding Rangers to their first Scottish Premiership title in a decade during the 2020-21 season.

After following Gerrard to Aston Villa in November 2021, Beale left the club in the summer of 2022 to take on the role of manager at Queen’s Park Rangers.

He led QPR to the top of the Championship in October of that year but declined an offer to manage Wolves, opting instead to return to Rangers as head coach in November 2022.

Beale’s stint at Rangers ended less than 11 months later after a poor start to the 2023-24 season, where the team lost three of their first seven league matches.

He then took over at Sunderland but endured a challenging spell, lasting just 12 games in charge—the shortest managerial tenure in the club’s history—before being dismissed in February 2024.

Now back alongside Gerrard, Beale aims to help Al-Ettifaq recover from a difficult run of form, with the team sitting 10th in the Saudi Pro League after losing five of their last six matches.