Dick Advocaat reveals he didn’t have appetite for Sunderland relegation dogfight
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Your support makes all the difference.Dick Advocaat has admitted his Sunderland squad were simply not good enough to avoid another scrap for Premier League survival.
The 68-year-old head coach parted company with the club on Sunday just eight games into the new league season, having failed to lead them to victory in any of them.
He left following the 2-2 home draw against West Ham without asking for a penny in settlement and retaining a fondness for the Black Cats, but has since revealed his reasons for doing so.
Advocaat told the Dutch show Studio Voetbal: “I already made my decision last week, but the club asked me to do the match against West Ham and I really wanted to finish this in style.
“The struggle against relegation is not my cup of tea. I think it was time for someone else to take over at Sunderland. I became negative and that didn’t feel like myself.
I have not asked for any settlement money nor received any and I’m sure I will never coach again
“I don’t regret signing my new contract [in the summer] because it was a great experience. Our squad was simply not good enough. The club knew we had to strengthen ourselves, but the chairman [Ellis Short] never told me how much we could spend. If you are at a club like Sunderland, a club that has less money to spend than many of the others, what has happened now is inevitable... and I have no appetite for that.
“I’ve never had the habit to just stop but after eight games with just three points I had the feeling I’m not the right man to be leading the team. I’ve never been in this situation before and I didn’t really see any other solution. I have not asked for any settlement money nor received any and I’m 100 per cent sure I’ll never coach a club again. But it would be nice to help a country to qualify for the [European Championship], I would really like to coach at a Euros.”
He also repeated his insistence that he had no regrets, adding: “Sunderland is in my view a very beautiful club. What I have seen no one can take away from me and I would not have missed this for anything. Even on Saturday, there were three or four loud chants for me. The fans supported me until the last day, although they did not know I was leaving.”
First-team coach Paul Bracewell and senior professional development coach Robbie Stockdale are looking after those players not away on international duty.
The search for a replacement – which is perhaps complicated by the fact that sporting director Lee Congerton is working his period of notice – is under way, although a definitive list of potential targets is yet to be drawn up.
There have been mixed messages as to leading candidate Sam Allardyce’s readiness to return to the game over the last 24 hours, while Harry Redknapp has distanced himself from the vacancy and Patrick Vieira is not understood to be in the reckoning.
Real Sociedad manager David Moyes is also thought to be under consideration although not currently as one of the main contenders.
Former Everton and Manchester United manager Moyes, 52, has been in charge of Real Sociedad since November, but they are only above La Liga’s relegation places on goal difference.
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