He is the protege of Total Football mastermind Rinus Michels , but 'Little General ' Dick Advocaat has been pitched straight into battle at Sunderland . In nine games there will be little time to roll out the revered brand of football which won fame and acclaim with the Ajax and Holland teams of the 1970s . Instead , the 67-year-old is tasked with saving a failing side from relegation . Then , successful or otherwise , he will be gone . But who is the man who , at 67 , is making his Premier League debut as Sunderland ’ s oldest-ever manager ? Dick Advocaat ( left ) in action during his playing days for Roda against PSV Eindhoven . Advocaat on a cycle ride when assistant coach with Holland in 1987 - seen here with Adri van Tiggelen , Ronald Koeman , Rene van der Gijp and Marco van Basten . Advocaat has held many managerial positions both in his native Holland and abroad - see here at PSV Eindhoven in 1996 . Advocaat is best remembered in Great Britain for his two league titles with Rangers in the late 1990s . Advocaat certainly doesn ’ t want for experience . This is the 18th job of a 28-year managerial career which has taken in nearly 900 matches and yielded 10 major trophies . He is best known on these shores for three-and-a-half years at Rangers , a stay which produced two SPL titles – including a record 21-point winning margin – two Scottish Cups and a League Cup . Advocaat , though , has since been accused of reckless spending – a claim he defends – and it was at Ibrox that he splashed out a club record £12million for Chelsea striker Tore Andre Flo . That name alone is enough to cause alarm among followers of Sunderland . For they paid Rangers £6.75m for the Norwegian after a relatively successful two years north of the border . VIDEO Sunderland appoint Advocaat as manager . There will be a few familiure faces in the Premier League for Advocaat . He has worked with and against Ronald Koeman in Holland . Manchester United manager Louis van Gaal is another manager that Advocaat knows well . Former England , Manchester City and Leicester boss Sven Goran Eriksson is someone else that Advovaat knows from his time in the game . Successful , however , is not a word used to reflect on his time at the Stadium of Light and , after four league goals in 29 appearances , he left on a free transfer . That , of course , is not Advocaat ’ s fault and there will be no scope for new additions during his time on Wearside , should the Flo connection cast doubt over his judgment . Rather , it will be his ability to make a snap judgement on those already in residence which will determine his legacy with the Black Cats . He is certainly well remembered at the likes of PSV and Zenit St Petersburg , where in 2008 his domestic champions beat former club Rangers in the final of the UEFA Cup , a triumph which won him honorary citizenship of the Russian city . Working with Premier League players will not be new to Advocaat as he has come across many in his time in international football - including Manchester United 's Marouane Fellaini while he was coach of Belgium between 2009-10 . Former Arsenal star Andrey Arshavin is another player Advocaat has worked with during his time as Russia manager between 2010-12 . Advocaat signed Brazil international Giovane Elber for German side Borussia Monchengladbach in 2005 . During his first spell in Eindhoven in the mid-Nineties he lifted the Dutch Cup and Eredivisie title , working with the likes of Brazilian striker Ronaldo . His second stint in 2012 saw the club finish second in the league and lose in the cup final , but a win ratio of 65 per cent equalled that of his initial tenure and still stands as the best of his career . Were he to win six of nine matches with Sunderland then it would perhaps eclipse everything he has achieved . But there have been rocky times , too . Advocaat has nine games left in the Premier League season and his aim is to ensure Sunderland do n't go down . Despite his years of managerial experience , Advocaat has never been in a relegation battle before . He was hounded from his second spell as Holland national-team boss after both the media and supporters were critical of his handling of the team , despite them reaching the semi-finals of Euro 2004 . Ten years earlier he took Holland to the last eight of the World Cup but was on the brink of losing his job before the finals in the USA after a fallout with star player Ruud Gullit , who retired from international football in protest . Subsequent posts at South Korea and Russia saw his teams fail to emerge from the group stages of World Cup 2006 and Euro 2012 respectively , while his latest job was an unhappy five-month period in charge of Serbia , where he was sacked in November . Despite his origin as a pupil of Michels , Advocaat has been criticised for playing defensive football with too much emphasis on structure and discipline . However , on the evidence of Sunderland ’ s shambolic 4-0 defeat to Aston Villa on Saturday , structure and discipline is probably the best place to start .
Dick Advocaat has had 18 managerial jobs over a 28 year career . Advocaat is best known on these shores for his time at Rangers where he won two league titles . Advocaat has a lot of experience at international level having managed Holland ( twice ) , Russia , Belgium , UAE , South Korea , and Serbia . At 67-years-old Advocaat is Ajax 's oldest manager - so can he be successful at the Stadium of Light . CLICK HERE for all the latest Ajax news .