Louis Rocca (15 September 1882–13 June 1950) was an English football administrator and scout who played a pivotal role in the development of Manchester United F.C.
A family of Italian gelato purveyors, Louis Rocca (senior) and his wife Mary, emigrated to England in the early 1870s and established an ice cream business at 64 Rochdale Road in the Newton Heath district of Manchester.
[3][7] In 1903 Louis married Mary Emily Wrenshall and by 1911 he had taken over the family business and was living in Oldham Road in Manchester with his wife and four children.
By the time of his mother's death in 1924, Louis was still managing the family ice cream and confectionery business and he was father to nine children.
[13] In 1930, Rocca had attempted to sign Manchester City wing-half Matt Busby for United, but the club was unable to pay the £150 transfer fee.
[14] Busby turned up at James Gibson's Trafford Park factory in February 1945 with demands for unprecedented control over the football team, but Rocca reassured his chairman that the Scot was the right man for the job and the contract was signed that day.
[5] In the first few years after Busby's appointment as manager, the Manchester United team was almost entirely composed of players discovered by Rocca and his scouting system.
Like Rocca, Armstrong would seek out the best young players in the Manchester area, and even further afield as the North East of England, where he discovered a 15-year-old Bobby Charlton in 1953.
Manchester United manager Alex Ferguson convinced Nike to provide both teams with kits for the occasion.