DICK ADVOCAAT has revealed he passed up the chance to manage Cardiff City.
At the age of SEVENTY-SEVEN.
His spell in Scotland formed a small part of an incredible 45 years as a manager[/caption]
The 77-year-old is still in demand and offered a route back into club football[/caption]
The former Rangers boss had a seven-month spell in charge of Sunderland in 2015, keeping the Black Cats in the Premier League.
He led the Light Blues to two SPL titles, two Scottish Cups and a League Cup between 1998 and 2001.
The veteran Dutchman has coached EIGHT national sides including Holland, Belgium and Russia.
And Advocaat has been Curacao’s boss since January 2024, with hopes he can eventually take the Caribbean side to the World Cup finals.
But Dutch media revealed that Cardiff recently approached him about taking charge of the Championship strugglers.
The Bluebirds sacked Erol Bulut last September, replacing the Turkish boss with his assistant Omer Riza.
Londoner Riza landed a contract until the end of the season in December, but the side from south Wales side are just one point above the drop zone.
Advocaat revealed: “Cardiff made an informal approach for me. It is insane that at my age clubs are still coming after me.
“But the people on my home front were no longer in agreement with me taking a job like this.
“Someone on the Curacao team staff must have leaked the news of Cardiff’s interest.”
Advocaat has a contract until 2026 with the island nation’s FA.
He added: “It’s realistic to say we can qualify for the 2026 World Cup. We have a team that is hard to beat, and the players give their all.
“I will retire once I leave the Curacao job. Then I will be 78, and that is a good time for me to stop.”
Meanwhile one of Advocaat’s former players at Ibrox, Rino Gattuso has been at the centre of an astonishing TV rant as he continues his own career as a manager.
Omer Riza landed the manager’s job at Cardiff City in December[/caption]
Meanwhile one of Advocaat’s former players was involved in an astonishing TV bust-up[/caption]
The fiery Italian is boss of Croatian league hopefuls Hajduk Split but saw his team overtaken by rivals Rijeka after a top of the table clash at the weekend.
It saw Hajduk drop to second and Rijeka overtake them at the top of the table to now lead by two points, with Dinamo Zagreb a further three points behind in third.
After the 3-0 defeat to Rijeka, Gattuso was scheduled to do a live interview with Croatian sports channel MAXSport1.
But to say things didn’t go to plan would be an understatement.
Gattuso refused to shake the hand of Josko Jelicic, a former Hajduk star who also played for Sevilla and Dinamo Zagreb.
After an awkward exchange between the pair Gattuso then cut the pundit off and said: “This is the last time. If you are here, I won’t talk to you anymore, because you are a bad person.”
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