TheCable

Sunderland have appointed Dutchman Dick Advocaat as their manager until the end of the season.

The former Netherlands coach takes over from Gus Poyet who was sacked on Monday following the 4-0 home defeat to Aston Villa.

Advocaat takes his new side to West Ham on Saturday knowing anything but a win at Upton Park could see the Black Cats drop into the bottom three.

But club owner Ellis Short sees the experienced manager as the ideal candidate to halt the slump which has seen the side win just one league game this year.

“We have one aim only now – to climb the table – and everyone is fully focused on the task ahead of us,” he said.

Poyet was sacked after a run of just one victory in 12 league games, which left Sunderland 17th in the Barclays Premier League and one point above the relegation zone.

Advocaat has been out of work since resigning as coach of Serbia last November.

He spent four years at Rangers but has never managed in England, but he’s looking forward to the challenge.

“Sunderland is a big club and I am very much looking forward to the challenge ahead. We must now concentrate on Saturday as a priority and I can’t wait to get started,” he said.

Advocaat started his managerial career in Holland, going on to manage the national team on two occasions, after achieving success at club level with a number of top sides in the Dutch league.

He moved to Scotland, guiding Rangers to five trophies during his four years at Ibrox, before returning to the Holland national team set-up in 2002.

Spells with the senior national teams of United Arab Emirates and South Korea were followed by three years in Russia with Zenit St. Petersburg, where he won the Russian League and Cup as well as the UEFA Cup and the UEFA Super Cup in 2008.

Advocaat then went on to manage the Belgium and Russia national teams as well as Dutch clubs AZ Alkmaar and PSV before taking charge of the Serbia national side.