Dick Advocaat has managed various teams at assorted points across the globe but one of the game’s foremost “world travellers” is not about to underestimate the significance and intensity of the Wear-Tyne derby.
It would be easy for the former Holland coach to airily dismiss Sunday’s home game with Newcastle United as a parochial skirmish but Sunderland’s new manager knows better than to fall into that particular trap.
Advocaat learnt his lesson during his first season in charge of Rangers in the late 1990s. After drawing his first Old Firm derby 0-0 the Dutchman’s inaugural visit to Celtic ended in a 5-1 defeat.
“I made a mistake in one of my first games against Celtic after I’d taken over,” he said. “The media said it was a huge game. I said we had 24 huge games or whatever it was.
“We lost that game and I remember saying in the press conference, when everyone was really upset, that it wasn’t a problem. To be honest, at that moment I did not realise Celtic-Rangers was so huge.
“I said we have lost but it is no problem for me because it is just one of 36 games and we will not lose any more. Although we became champions that year I would not say that any more. It was not until afterwards that I realised how important the game is there.”
Sunderland are seeking a record-breaking fifth straight win against Newcastle but, with relegation a real danger, Gus Poyet’s successor is far more interested in securing points than making history.
“We have to get points from every game between now and the end of the season,” said Advocaat, whose first game in charge ended in a 1-0 defeat at West Ham. “But everybody in the squad knows how important this game is.”
He has used the international break to try to alter Sunderland’s mindset, to attempt to turn them into a team rather than a disjointed collection of individuals with only one win in their past 13 Premier League games and only one goal in the past six.
“We had some meetings with each other and about how important it is to play as a unit, not individuals,” said Advocaat. “We can only stay up if we think as a team. Our squad is strong enough to get results. The players have shown that for other clubs in the past so why can they not do it for Sunderland?”
