Sunderland’s new head coach, Dick Advocaat, conducted his first press conference since replacing Gus Poyet yesterday. Chief Sports Writer Scott Wilson was at the Academy of Light to watch things unfold

THERE are certain events that have become an integral part of the English footballing calendar. The Boxing Day fixture list, Jose Mourinho refusing to talk to the press, Arsenal limping out of Europe in the first knock-out round of the Champions League – they come around every year, and there’s a certain comfort to be gained from greeting them.

Then, of course, there is the unveiling of a new Sunderland manager. Sorry, head coach. Like the sighting of the first swallow, the inaugural glimpse of a new Black Cats boss, resplendent in a shiny new suit and gleaming with the glow of ambitions that are yet to be thwarted, provides proof that all is well with the world. In an era of mounting instability, where everything we believe in is constantly being challenged, it is nice to know that some things still run like clockwork.

Admittedly, they left it a little later than usual this time. For a fleeting second, perhaps when Ricky Alvarez was slamming home an FA Cup replay winner at Fulham, it looked as though Sunderland might get through an entire season without issuing a press release that starts: “Sunderland Football Club would like to announce the departure of...”

But no, come this Monday morning, journalists’ inboxes up and down the country were beeping with the confirmation of Gus Poyet’s demise. Less than 24 hours later, and Dick Advocaat’s appointment to replace him until the end of the season was confirmed.

And so there we were at the Academy of Light, yesterday morning, ladies and gentlemen of the fourth estate, going through our annual meet-and-greet with the latest managerial saviour.

Some such experiences are incendiary, as was the case with Paolo Di Canio, who was repeatedly grilled on his alleged fascist tendencies, and who just about resisted the temptation to leap out of his seat and grab us all by the throat.

Poyet was an uncontrollable bundle of energy on his first public outing as Sunderland boss, excitedly laying bare his vision of a free-flowing passing utopia that never quite survived the transition from his head to the pitch. He talked the talk all right, but his players were unable to walk it.

Advocaat was nothing like either figure. It probably doesn’t pay for a journalist to admit this, given the Dutchman’s words are going to be filling a fair amount of column inches between now and the end of the season, but yesterday was all a little bit dull.

There were no extravagant predictions, no heartfelt manifestos of footballing beliefs. Unforgivably, Advocaat didn’t even claim to have been a childhood Sunderland fan.

It all felt very perfunctory and business-like, but then you imagine that’s just what Sunderland are looking for at the moment, hence the decision to do away with a potential midweek unveiling in order to bundle Advocaat’s introductory outing with the more routine press call ahead of this afternoon’s game at West Ham.

With just nine games of the season remaining, and the relegation zone a solitary point away, this is hardly the time for grand gestures or idealistic notions of how Sunderland should play. Needs must, and on the face of things, Advocaat certainly comes across as a needs must appointment.

“I have never been relegated,” said the 67-year-old, in one of his more expressive moments. “I always have the feeling that I will never go down. So I don’t really want to talk about that.

“I have been close, but that was when I was a very young manager. I started at SVV when I was 36 and we were champions in one of the lower leagues. We had a difficult season the following year, but we survived in the last game.”

Given that Sunderland’s last game of the current campaign is at Stamford Bridge, and not withstanding last season’s heroics against Chelsea, you suspect he might have to polish things off a little quicker this time around.

Survival is the sole ambition, and while Advocaat refused to categorically rule out remaining beyond the end of the season, you get the impression he is quite happy with his fixed-term fire-fighting role.

He has had plenty of short managerial stints before – not always of his own making – and given that he appears to revel in his nickname of the ‘Little General’ – “I was the assistant of Rinus Michels and they called him ‘The General’. I worked a little bit like him” – it is safe to assume that Sunderland’s players can expect a short, sharp shock.

Plenty of supporters will conclude that is exactly what they require, although they hardly responded positively to Di Canio’s authoritarian instincts. As of yet, however, the tomato sauce bottles remain.

What is likely to change is Sunderland’s general outlook on the pitch, with Advocaat sure to encourage a much higher-tempo approach than his predecessor. Whereas Poyet appeared to espouse passing for passing’s sake, Advocaat wants his players to be more purposeful when in possession, and more aggressive when they do not have the ball.

“I am a coach who likes to control games, to have the ball,” he said. “What I have seen from the majority of the games is that Sunderland are running without the ball, I like it the other way round.

“The players must also understand that you cannot win the game on your own, or only as an attacker. You have to do both ways - with the ball or without the ball. That is football. You can’t think, ‘Okay, we have lost the ball, we can walk’. It is a manner of changing their attitudes, but you cannot do that in three days.”

Sunderland supporters will have to hope he can achieve it in two months, because the clock is ticking. Today’s game at West Ham will be followed by a two-week international break, before the action resumes with the small matter of a Wear-Tyne derby with Newcastle.

Sunderland like to make managerial changes with derby-day looming – Di Canio’s second game was a 3-0 win at St James’ Park, while Poyet’s second game resulted in a 2-1 win over Newcastle at the Stadium of Light – so Advocaat will be out to complete a remarkable hat-trick in a fortnight’s time.

“If we do the same, then that is good,” he said. It was as near as we came to light relief, but then perhaps Advocaat’s gravity reflects the seriousness of the situation. Not for the first time, Sunderland’s plight is hardly a laughing matter.