​SUNDERLAND, UNITED KINGDOM – MARCH 20 : (EXCLUSIVE COVERAGE) New Sunderland manager Dick Advocaat during a Sunderland AFC press conference at The Academy of Light on March 20, 2015 in Sunderland, England. (Photo by Ian Horrocks/Sunderland AFC via Getty Images) | Sunderland AFC via Getty Images On October 4 2015, Sunderland manager Dick Advocat resigned following a winless start to the Premier League season.Advocaat had been appointed in March of the same year on a temporary basis following the sacking of Gus Poyet.Initially tasked with staving off relegation during 2014/2015 and contracted until the end of the season, he took over with Sunderland sitting in seventeenth place and only a single point above the drop zone — Poyet having been sacked following a humbling 0-4 defeat at home to Aston Villa.The first game of Advocaat’s tenure ended in a 1-0 defeat away at West Ham but the side already looked better defensively. Plans for a more solid structure had gone well until an injury to Wes Brown forced a reshuffle and despite that, Jermain Defoe missed a great opportunity to put us ahead.The game ended in controversial fashion when a blatant foul on Seb Larsson went unpunished and The Hammers scored from the resulting attack on eighty eight minutes. Advocaat was surprisingly generous towards the referee in his post-match press conference while everyone else was understandably fuming, and opposing manager Sam Allardyce would ironically replace Advocaat later in the year!Following a two week international break, Sunderland’s next challenge was a home game against The Visitors.Advocaat was quoted at the time as saying our football wasn’t going to be pretty and that results were the most important thing. He also seemed quite happy that the side wasn’t full of internationals who would spend the two weeks away with their country and that this gave him time to work on the squad for the upcoming games.On 5 April, Advocaat took charge of his second game and his first at the Stadium of Light, a Wear-Tyne derby that would prove to be the start of our push for safety. A goal that lives long in the memory was the difference on the day — Defoe’s volley that I consider to be one of the best I’ve ever seen on Wearside. Any excuse to rewatch it is taken, so fill your boots!1-0 win became the seventh game in an unbeaten streak against them up the road stretching back to August 2011 and quite incredibly our fifth win on the bounce. At time of writing this unbeaten run has continued and now stands at eleven matches in the league (No, the FA Cup doesn’t count — I don’t even remember that happening!).A home defeat to Crystal Palace tempered enthusiasm before a draw away at Stoke and back-to-back wins against Southampton and Everton eased the pressure. Our top flight status was assured following an epic 0-0 draw away at Arsenal with a game to spare and Advocaat had completed the job he was brought in to do.He retired at the end of the season — sup