Roker Roundup: Ex-SAFC boss Advocaat set for retirement & Watmore predictably shines for Boro

Advocaat to finally retire

Dick Advocaat will finally retire from management at the end of the current season, bringing to a close a 40-year managerial career that has seen him manage all over the globe.

The 73-year-old managed Sunderland in 2015 but is currently in charge of Eredivise side Feyenoord and speaking to the club’s official website, Advocaat hopes to finish off his career in football on a high:

Certainly if a number of injured people return, we can still have a very good season. I will do everything about it, but after that it was good.

I know I’ve said that before but this time you can keep me to it: the coming months will really be my last as a club trainer. After a long and wonderful career, Feyenoord is a great club to finish with. Hopefully - and I believe that - we will be able to show good things before then.

According to Barendrechts Dagblad, Advocaat’s assistant manager at Sunderland, Zeljko Petrovic has decided to follow the example and also retire at the end of the 2020-21 season.

Photo by Ian Horrocks/Sunderland AFC via Getty Images

Watmore shines

Predictably enough, Duncan Watmore has hit the ground running after his free transfer move to Championship outfit Middlesbrough.

The forward marked his first start for the club last week with an assist against Derby County and was given a short substitute appearance against Huddersfield Town as he is eased back in following his recent lack of football while he looked for a new club.

He then went one - or two - better last night by scoring both goals for Boro in a 2-1 home win against Swansea City.

Speaking to the press after the game, Neil Warnock praised Watmore and revealed that the 26-year-old had good offers to go and play football in India or South Africa but decided to prove his worth at the Riverside instead:

Duncan’s a gem of a lad, he’s come in, and even though we didn’t pay him for a few weeks he wanted to come here.

He got good offers financially to go away to all sorts of places – he could have gone to India or South Africa - but he loved it here. It was great to give him a short-term deal.

There’s probably only him in our team that would have scored the goal. It’s not easy going through like that. All credit to him, I thought he worked his socks off.

It’s only one game, let’s wait and see a little bit. He was the type of player we were looking at, that’s why I asked about him. We haven’t got anyone like that.

We’re looking for good wide players, in his case he can play up front as well. He gives us a bit of both. He’s responsible, he works hard, in training he covers more ground than anyone else.

He deserves tonight, we gave him a round of applause in the dressing room. He deserves it for what he’s been through, the horrendous injuries he’s been through. He’ll go home and he’ll be on cloud nine tonight.

Photo by Alex Dodd - CameraSport via Getty Images