1 Born in the Hague, Advocaat was an unremarkable defensive midfielder, whose only major honour as a player was a Dutch Cup success with Den Haag in 1968.

He had two spells in the United States as a player, first with San Fransisco Gales and then Chicago Sting, and ended his playing days in 1984 with Utrecht.

2 He is nicknamed the ‘Little General’, a sobriquet he gained when he worked as the assistant to Dutch national team boss Rinus Michels between 1984-87.

Michels was known as the ‘General’, and Advocaat rose to prominence as his right-hand man. He went on to manage Holland himself on two separate occasions, and has also led United Arab Emirates, South Korea, Belgium, Russia and Serbia on the international stage.

3 Advocaat does not have prior experience of Sunderland, but Black Cats fans will be pleased to note that he has locked horns with Newcastle United twice – and won on both occasions.

He was the PSV Eindhoven boss when the Dutch side faced the Magpies in the group stage of the 1997-98 Champions League, with his side winning 1-0 at home and claiming a 2-0 success at St James’ Park.

4 Advocaat freely admits that he had a hair transplant in the mid-1990s, and was even used by Dutch hair company Laser Aesthetec to advertise their products in Holland.

The adverts showed Advocaat before and after the operation, with the picture before accompanied by the slogan, “Advocaat without cream”, and the post-operation photo saying, “Advocaat with cream”.

5 Advocaat shares one thing in common with his new employers at the Stadium of Light – they both have experience of paying over the odds for Tore-Andre Flo.

In November 2000, Advocaat broke Rangers’ transfer record as he shelled out £12m to take Flo to Ibrox. Less than two years later, and the Norwegian striker was heading to Wearside for £8.2m.

6 Advocaat’s biggest managerial achievement was probably guiding Russian side Zenit St Petersburg to UEFA Cup triumph in 2008.

Zenit beat his former club, Rangers, 2-0 in the final, and Advocaat said: “I have won championships, but now winning the UEFA Cup, I have almost everything.”

7 One of Advocaat’s biggest fall-outs during his career came with former Newcastle boss Ruud Gullit, who he axed from the Dutch national side.

Advocaat dropped Gullit during the successful qualifying tournament for the 1994 World Cup – which saw Holland knock out a Graham Taylor-led England – and refused to take the midfielder to the finals in the United States.

8 Advocaat has changed his tactics on occasion, but most of his sides have tended to play with a 4-3-3 formation.

The new Sunderland head coach appears to like two forward players playing on either side of a central striker, with a defensive midfielder stationed immediately in front of the back four.

9 Having initially been appointed until the end of the season, it remains to be seen whether Advocaat has designs to remain at the Stadium of Light for a much longer spell.

However, despite his extensive managerial career, it is interesting to note that he has never stayed at the same club for more than four seasons. Administering a short, sharp shock appears to be his forte.

10 Advocaat has spent some of the current campaign working as a pundit on Dutch television, and has saved some of his more withering words for his compatriot, Louis van Gaal, who is in charge of Manchester United.

Only last month, he said: “If you’ve spent 200 milion, you should not complain, you should just make sure you compete for the top two – and that does not happen. I don’t think it is working for him.”