Sir Alex Ferguson will be back in the dugout over a decade after retiring from Manchester United to manage a farewell match for Giuseppe Rossi in Italy.
The curtain fell on Sir Alex’s legendary reign at Old Trafford in 2013 after he guided United to their 20th league title, his 37th trophy in charge at the club.
And, as reported by talkSPORT, the 83-year-old is set to coach a team in Rossi’s farewell match at Fiorentina’s Stadio Artemio Franchi next month.
Ferguson managed a whole galaxy of superstars during his nearly 27 years with United, so it comes as a bit of a surprise that Rossi – who played less than 20 times – is the player to tempt him back into the hotseat.
But the ex-Italy international revealed his special admiration for Ferguson, who brought a teenage Rossi to United from Parma’s youth sides in 2004.
As per talkSPORT, the 38-year-old said: “Ferguson will be there as a coach. He was my first coach, I signed when I was 17.
“I only did three years with him and played little, but he immediately said yes and this shows what kind of person he is.
“I did little at United but he treats me like Cristiano Ronaldo, who has scored 1,000 goals.”
Rossi scored four goals in 14 senior appearances for United, netting on his Premier League debut in a 3-1 win over Sunderland.
He departed on loans first to Newcastle United then to Parma, before sealing a permanent move to Villarreal where he settled, scoring 82 goals in 192 games.
His farewell match reflects his time spent in Italy, where he played variously for Fiorentina, Genoa and most recently SPAL, and will feature Serie A icons such as Luca Toni, Antonio Cassano, Sebastien Frey, Borja Valero and Gabriel Batistuta.
This isn’t Ferguson’s only comeback since entering retirement – he marked the 20th anniversary of United’s historic 1999 treble in typically uncompromising fashion, guiding a team of United legends to a 5-0 win over their Bayern Munich counterparts.
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Joe Ponting
Joe has spent more than half his life writing about football and all of it following United. As a child he told a doctor his name was ‘Paul Scholes’, but could never pick a pass like him no matter how much he tried.
