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ESPN staff 9y

Sunderland appoint Dick Advocaat until end of season

Dick Advocaat has been confirmed as Sunderland's manager until the end of the season following Monday's sacking of Gus Poyet.

Advocaat takes charge at the Stadium of Light with the Black Cats just one point and one place above the Premier League's relegation please.

Poyet was sacked in the wake of Saturday's 4-0 home defeat to Aston Villa, and Advocaat's first task is to prepare the team for Saturday's trip to West Ham.

"Sunderland is a big club and I am very much looking forward to the challenge ahead," he told the club's official website. "We must now concentrate on Saturday as a priority and I can't wait to get started."

Sunderland AFC chairman Ellis Short added: "Dick has an incredible CV and vast experience of managing at the very highest level. We have one aim only now -- to climb the table and everyone is fully focused on the task ahead of us."

Advocaat has vast experience in the global game, having led international teams including his native Netherlands as well as South Korea, Belgium and Russia, while his most recent position saw him leading Serbia.

At club level, he led Rangers to the Scottish Premier League title on two occasions during a four-year spell that ended in 2002, and has also won the the Eredivisie title with PSV Eindhoven and the Russian Premier League and UEFA Cup when coaching Zenit St Petersburg between 2006 and 2009.

"That is what I always wanted to do -- [manage in] the Premier League," he told Dutch media prior to the announcement, saying: "As a coach, that is one place you'd still want to work. It has a lasting attraction."

He added: "West Ham is on Saturday. Then it's the international break. And then the derby with Newcastle United awaits. That is really something to look forward to because, believe me, this is a very big club."

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