Former Sunderland and Stoke City defender Danny Higginbotham has stated that Sunderland need to stick by their managers in order to avoid constant battles against relegation.

Following the appointment of Dick Advocaat last month, Sunderland have had seven different permanent managers in as many years and the constant chopping and changing has undoubtedly contributed to their troubles over the last few seasons.

It is clear to see that the situation at Sunderland is most certainly not ideal and now former Black Cats defender Higginbotham has moved on to state that the Stadium of Light hierarchy need to be more patient with their managers in order to bring about constancy at the club.

He told the Chronicle: "It is not sustainable when you keep making those changes. When I got relegated with Southampton and Derby, we had three managers in each of those two seasons.

"Yes, sometimes it can work as a shock effect, as we saw with Paolo di Canio, but it's not going to work long-term. You can't have a manager keep coming in, not fancying the players he's got and then bringing in more new players.

"Just look at Stoke. For their first five years in the Premier League, they had the same manager (Tony Pulis) and then they've had Mark Hughes since. Sunderland have had seven managers during that time, and that's not good.

"All the teams that have success and continue to stay in the Premier League are those who have a manager there for the long term. No one ever associates Stoke with relegation any more and that is to the full credit of everyone at the football club."