FORMER Adelaide Advertiser Chief Football Writer Michelangelo Rucci is joining the Port Adelaide Football Club as a specialised content producer.

Rucci, the longest-standing chief football writer at The Advertiser after joining the newspaper at the end of 1983, is turning back the clock in a return to Alberton.

The 56-year-old will boost the club’s website with must-read written content delivering his view on what is happening across the AFL game, as well as the workings inside the four walls at Port Adelaide.

Rucci will revisit the club’s heritage, putting new light on some of Port Adelaide’s greatest and most emotive moments across its incredible 150-year history.

The sports journalist and writer will also host a weekly club podcast commencing in the coming weeks.

Rucci is excited with his return to the place where it all began more than 40 years ago.

“The thing I like most about this role is the message is as clear now as it was back then,” Rucci told portadelaidefc.com.au.

“(Senior coach) John Cahill told me all those years ago to call it as I see it, and (club president) David Koch’s remarks are exactly the same.

“It is just true for what Port Adelaide stands for, no sugar coating, and that’s what I intend to do in this new role.”

The award-winning sportswriter was given an opportunity by Bob McLean in 1979 to become the club’s first historian and record-keeper, which then evolved to statistician and opposition analysis in 1980 as Cahill took his coaching to a new cutting edge.

“It was the first time we had seen analysis of opposition teams in the SANFL,” Rucci recalled.

“He was ahead of his time, Jack. He wanted me to come in every Monday and put the next team we were playing and all of their individual stats on the whiteboard.

“By the end of 1984, it became apparent I couldn’t continue my role here and be at The Advertiser.

“To find my way back here now, and to be able to contribute to the club in such special year is really exciting - and, as it was in 1979, an honour plus a privilege.”