FORMER Crawley boss Gabriele Cioffi has admitted he was "sad" when was told he would be leaving the club.

The Italian left the Red Devils in 2019 by mutual consent. Cioffi was supported by players but due to injuries and poor results he left the club.

Despite being in League Two, Cioffi returned to work at Italian top flight side Udinese as the assistant coach, and he is now the caretaker manager after Luca Gotti was sacked, but he still thinks highly of his time at Crawley.

Cioffi told the Observer: “When I received the phone call from the CEO telling me that we have to break up, I was really sad. I had a feeling of shock.

The Argus: Gabriele Cioffi left Crawley in 2019Gabriele Cioffi left Crawley in 2019

“I didn’t fly back from the UK to Italy immediately. I waited two weeks, saying, ‘Maybe there is a misunderstanding, something wrong. It’s not impossible.’”

“Here, at Udinese, I work with 200 people. There (At Crawley) we were working with seven, eight.

“But the passion and the enthusiasm that these people have is amazing. It was an honour for me to work with them.

“To know them not just in terms of a secretary or CEO. But as people. As human beings.”

Cioffi's impact with Udinese has been fine as he has won four of his 14 games in charge. There have been six draws as he has only lost four games.

It has been confirmed that Cioffi will remain in chare of the club until at least the end of the season, with the club currently in 14th place.

His next ambition is to become a permanent manager in his native top flight.

He said: “My next ambition is to be a real coach in Serie A. Because so far I just had, 13, 15, I don’t know how many games! My goal is to win games until I decide to keep going with this career.”

After leaving Crawley, Cioffi was replaced by current boss John Yems.