Former Sunderland boss Dick Advocaat claims it may be best for the club if they are relegated from the Premier League this season.
With the Black Cats anchored at the bottom of the table and looking at financial meltdown if they go down, Sunderland fans and the club’s owner Ellis Short might not agree with Advocaat’s brutal solution to continuing problems at the Stadium of Light.
But the 69-year-old Dutch coach reckons if they could follow the template laid down by Newcastle – who are currently top of the Championship and favourites to __win promotion back to the top flight at the first attempt under Rafa Benitez – it may help to reverse the decline which is killing the Wearsiders.
“Maybe it’s better to go down, to build a new team like Newcastle who have a great club, a great fan base and a great stadium just like Sunderland,” said Advocaat.
“Sunderland simply cannot go on this way because other clubs invest in the team, they spend money on good players and, if you don’t do it, you are in trouble because there’s too much quality elsewhere in the Premier League to expect to survive every year.”
Sunderland picked up their first __win of the season at Bournemouth last weekend and boss David Moyes faces a crucial ‘six-pointer’ at home to Hull City after the international break.
It is a familiar picture for Advocaat, now manager at Fenerbahce in Turkey, who still has a soft spot in his heart for Sunderland after a brief spell at the club two seasons ago. The experienced boss helped to keep Sunderland safe from the drop after joining them in March 2015.
And, although he came back the following season, he left after eight games, frustrated at a lack of investment from London-based American businessman Short.
Advocaat (below), who has managed clubs including PSV Eindhoven, Zenit St Petersburg and Rangers, as well as Holland, Belgium, Russia, South Korea and Serbia on the international stage, keeps close tabs on Sunderland.
And, more than a year later, he admits he is not surprised Sunderland are still in trouble and languishing in the Premier League drop zone.
The Dutchman (left) believes the Black Cats’ progress is still being hampered by the same issues he fought in his time in charge. And he claims Short’s refusal to match the spending of other clubs forced him to head for the exit, feeling that managing Sunderland is the impossible job.
“You can only define Sunderland’s problems if they spend the same as other clubs and they don’t do that,” said Advocaat.
“I said that well over a year ago and this is the reason I left after eight games when I decided to come back at the start of last season.
“I had no chance, I had that feeling. OK, Sam Allardyce came in after me and he did a great job.
“But it went down to the wire, to the last two games of the season.
“You can’t do that every season, it’s just not possible – because, sooner or later, your luck is going to run out.”