Ghanaian coaching legend Jones Attuquayefio says he hopes to return to coaching one day after more than a year out.

The former Hearts of Oak and Black Stars coach was out the whole of last year with illness and while he admits a return is not exactly imminent, he says he has not lost hope of coaching again.

“Like Sir Alex Ferguson I am not retiring now but I need to be back to full fitness before I can coach again. I can’t live without this game,” he told KickOffGhana.com.

Attuquayefio spends a lot of his time at the training grounds of Liberty Professionals in Dansoman helping with his valuable insight during sessions. And he says through the difficult health times, football has been a great companion.

“I have a lot of time on my hands so I have been watching a lot of it and listening a lot too.”

In that period he has been hugely impressed too by one of the players he helped bring to the fore Asamoah Gyan.

“In the beginning the theory was that he was too small for the first team,” Attuquayefio recalls after recommending Gyan to join the Liberty first team.

“He has been doing really well. He can shoot, he can score, he tackles and is a good ball player. I am delighted to see him doing well.”

There will be many in Ghana football who will be more than delighted to see Attuquayefio on the touchlines again.

After a distinguished playing career when he helped the Black Stars to Nations Cup glory in 1965, he made his mark in coach most memorably at Accra Hearts of Oak whom he helped win the 2000 Champions League and the 2004 Confederation Cup.