Sobbing in top-level football is hardly commonplace, but it’s certainly back in the news and sparking memories for Huddersfield Town fans.

Sunderland boss Dick Advocaat was in tears on Wednesday night as the Black Cats secured the point they needed from a goalless draw at Arsenal to secure another season in the Barclays Premier League.

His emotions bubbled to the surface just like they did for skipper Peter Clarke when Town lost the 2011 League One play-off final to Peterborough United at Old Trafford.

Clarke – a modern-day club legend – just couldn’t hide his disappointment, but he used the agony of that setback in Manchester to inspire his team to a comeback penalty shoot-out victory over Sheffield United in the play-offs at Wembley exactly 12 months later.

The 33-year-old who has just been released by Blackpool, had gone from the worst moment of his career to the best in just a year, and my how it showed when he lifted the trophy on the Wembley balcony.

James Cann of Press Association Sport has provided these famous cases of weeping footballers:

PAUL GASCOIGNE

England have never come closer to recapturing the World Cup trophy than in 1990, the Italy-hosted tournament which saw them reach the semi-finals. Had they gone one better, their key talent Gascoigne would not have played after earning a fateful yellow card against West Germany. First, his bottom lip started wobbling “like a helicopter pad” - the player’s words - and then the tears came. Gary Lineker went straight over to console his weeping team-mate.

DAVID BECKHAM

Twenty-three years later another accomplished England midfielder was welling up, but this time he was in club colours. Beckham provided a key assist as Paris St Germain beat Brest on the last day of the Ligue 1 season before celebrating their title win. It was the pass master’s last contribution as a footballer after 20 illustrious years and he could not hold back the tears as he was given a standing ovation by the Parc des Princes crowd.

JUPP HEYNCKES

Perhaps it was just the pressure of an upcoming double-header of a Champions League final against Borussia Dortmund and a German Cup final showdown with Stuttgart. Veteran boss Heynckes was clearly struggling to stay composed as he choked up in his last press conference while reflecting on Bayern’s last game of the Bundesliga season, a thrilling 4-3 victory over one his many former clubs, Borussia Monchengladbach.

THE WHOLE BRAZIL TEAM, AND THEIR FANS

Well, you would be crying too. Not many other emotional responses could have been more appropriate than floods of tears after World Cup hosts Brazil were trounced 7-1 by eventual champions Germany in Belo Horizonte. Fans were already weeping soundly when the Selecao went 5-0 down after only 29 minutes and their hammered heroes joined in after the final whistle, with David Luiz, Oscar and Marcelo chief among the yellow-shirted wailers.

JOHN TERRY

The Chelsea captain has admitted he spent most of the summer of 2014 crying after the Blues were pipped to the league title by Manchester City. But the tough-tackling defender’s history of public waterworks began after he missed what would have been the winning penalty in their Champions League final defeat to Manchester United six years earlier. He was also captured sobbing fitfully when Atletico Madrid knocked Chelsea of Europe last year.