By Chris Wright
After just about guiding the club to Premier League survival this season, Dick Advocaat has U-turned his retirement plans and signed up for one more year of fun and frolics at Sunderland.
With Sunderland entrenched in the relegation mire and the situation looking increasingly dire week by week, Gus Poyet was sacked and Advocaat was brought in on an interim basis in March – vowing that the gig would be his last in club football.
However, the Dutchman duly managed to steer the Black Cats clear of the drop with a game to spare, shedding tears of exasperated joy after doing so.
That should, by rights, have been that – but it would appear that the 67-year-old has been talked into returning to the Stadium of Light for another season after being pestered day and night until he caved in!
“The club kept calling. The owner would not let go,” Advocaat told Dutch newspaper De Telegraaf.
“It’s a wonderful club, so I decided nonetheless to sign a new deal. They think I’m still fit enough and personally I also feel that I am still fine (to continue).”
There’s a lesson in persistence in there somewhere.