Ex-Rangers boss Dick Advocaat to coach AZ Alkmaar

AZ Alkmaar have appointed Dick Advocaat as their new manager following the surprise dismissal of Gertjan Verbeek last month.

Dick Advocaat is to take charge of AZ Alkmaar for a second time. Picture: AFP

Advocaat, 66, announced his retiral earlier this year from club management, but appears to have had a change of heart as he agreed a deal until the end of the current season.

AZ parted company with Verbeek citing a breakdown in his relationship with the players, with a statement on their official website confirming: “AZ and Dick Advocaat on Tuesday agreed on a contract as head coach until the end of the current season.”

It is Advocaat’s second spell at the club, having taken charge for five months towards the end of the 2009-10 season and guided them to fifth, and his first match will be this coming Sunday, as ninth-placed AZ take on Cambuur Leeuwarden.

Advocaat had been out of work since parting company with AZ’s Eredivisie rivals PSV Eindhoven in May of this year, having spent time coaching South Korea, whom he led to the 2006 World Cup, Zenit St Petersburg and Russia.