Don Hutchison has expressed his disappointment at the departure of Dick Advocaat from Sunderland.
Advocaat took over at the Stadium of Light from Gus Poyet in March and things looked very bleak for the Black Cats prior to his arrival.
However, under the tutelage of Advocaat, Sunderland enjoyed a wonderful revival and managed to retain their place in the Premier League with a game to spare.
Advocaat's heroics meant that the Sunderland fans were keen on the Dutchman continuing as manager on a permanent basis but the 67-year old rejected the offer by insisting that he was too old to continue in the management caper.
The decision saddened the Mackem faithful and now even former midfielder Hutchison has stated that he was left disappointed by Advocaat not taking up a permanent role on Wearside.
Writing in his column for the Chronicle, Hutchison posed the following: "I am really disappointed that Dick Advocaat isn't going to take over permanently at Sunderland.
"I think he had the profile, the pedigree and the authority to turn things around at the Stadium of Light - and he'd already begun that process when he decided to leave.
"Advocaat commanded the attention of the press and the dressing room, which has a few of those players who probably need to be reminded of the size of the club they're playing for every now and then. In short, he didn't seem to take anything from anyone - and that's the sort of person that Sunderland need."