Michael Beale admitted his first match in charge of Sunderland "couldn't have gone any worse" as his side slumped to a 3-0 loss to Coventry.
The former Rangers boss led the Championship for the first time this afternoon but had to apologise to fans after the match after a nightmare dugout debut.
And Sunderland social media accounts branded the defeat as an "afternoon to forget" as Beale's start to life at the club started in the worst possible fashion.
After the match, Beale said: “Today couldn’t have gone any worse, let’s be honest about it. We have to apologise to our fans and we have to respond in a couple of days’ time.
“He (Mowbray) did a good job here, and I have no issue with the fans showing their affection towards him because he was a man who they were fond of and he did a good job.
“Ultimately, that’s now gone and we need to look forward. The team needs to get better results than it did today.
“Consistency has maybe been a bit of an issue for the group. That’s our 10th game that we’ve lost this season in 23, and we’ve won 10. So, at the halfway stage of the campaign, we have to decide what team we’re going to be moving forward. We certainly can’t let in three goals a game, that’s for sure.”
It comes after Beale revealed he went into Rangers as a head coach but was "pulled in different places" as he insisted his preference to be a coach rather than "manager of the whole football club."
He previously said: "Well, I went into QPR as a head coach and originally went into Rangers in the same role.
"There was a lot of changes with people leaving and I got pulled in different places.
"The thing I am really comfortable with here is the alignment through the club.
"My role being in line with that as a head coach and having an opinion and an idea on other aspects of the club but I want to be the coach of the team - not the manager of the whole football club.
"This was a good fit in terms of alignment, I thought conversations were very smooth, there was a lot of common ground.
"I'm just looking forward to getting ready now and the exciting future of Sunderland."
