'Yes' - Gaetano Berardi on Leeds United promise, relegation, next season view and coaching plan

Whites hero Gaetano Berardi has outlined his confidence in a Leeds United recovery mission and his own Elland Road coaching hope.
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Hard-as-nails defender Berardi helped Leeds to promotion as Championship champions under Marcelo Bielsa in July 2020 before departing the club the following summer after the club’s ninth-placed finish upon their top-flight return.

Berardi eventually signed for Swiss side FC Sion the following new year but the 34-year-old remains a cult hero with United’s fan base and received a plethora of messages and well-wishes this week upon announcing his retirement.

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For Berardi, attention will now turn to getting his coaching badges in Italy but also on following the exploits of his former side, who the defender backs to bounce back from relegation with promotion at the first attempt.

CONFIDENCE: From Whites hero Gaetano Berardi, above, that relegated Leeds United can bounce straight back with promotion. Photo by LYNNE CAMERON/POOL/AFP via Getty Images.CONFIDENCE: From Whites hero Gaetano Berardi, above, that relegated Leeds United can bounce straight back with promotion. Photo by LYNNE CAMERON/POOL/AFP via Getty Images.
CONFIDENCE: From Whites hero Gaetano Berardi, above, that relegated Leeds United can bounce straight back with promotion. Photo by LYNNE CAMERON/POOL/AFP via Getty Images.

"I think yes,” said former Swiss international Berardi in an interview with BBC Radio Leeds, asked if he felt like his former side were in a good position to bounce back at the first attempt.

"I think they still have the strength, the power to come back, to come back to the Premier League. I don't know exactly what happened last season.

"Of course it was not easy, it was not easy for the team, it was not easy for the club and of course for the fans. But I am sure they will programme the Championship in the best way possible to come back and to push for promotion and this is of course what we all want."

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Berardi has also promised that he will continue to keep in contact with his former club, perhaps with a view to returning in a coaching capacity in the long term future.

"I will start in Italy with the coaching badges and then I will see,” said the ex-Whites star, asked about any long term possibility of being offered a Whites coaching position.

"I am not sure what I will find but I don't want to talk about my future. I will take my next step and then I will see. Of course I will keep in contact with Leeds, I will follow them and maybe one day there is a chance to come back in some way because also I don't want to forget the people who are still there, my old team mates because they are great people, they are great guys.

"I know they are suffering in the last period so I want to send my love to them, to my old team mates and all the people because this time is not the best but they have to come back and push again."