In 2005, at the age of 43, Rush considered coming out of retirement to play for TNS, after the Welsh side were drawn against Liverpool for their opening round Champions League qualifying match, but later decided against this.

Since November 2005, Rush has been involved in media work within the game, including a stint as an analyst with ESPN. He also appears as a pundit and reporter for Sky Sports and Sky Sports News. He has also done work on LFC TV

On 27 April 2006, Rush was involved in the Marina Dalglish charity match, which pitted the 1986 FA Cup final teams of Liverpool and Everton against each other in aid of Breast Cancer Research, as Kenny Dalglish’s wife Marina had been suffering from breast cancer and the proceeds from the match were being donated to the charity.

Rush was inducted into the English Football Hall of Fame in 2006 due to his achievements in the game.

Rush can still be seen wearing the red of Liverpool as he regularly appears for the Masters five-a-side team and as one of Liverpool’s ‘old boys’ on public relations tours for the club.

On 7 September 2007 it was announced that Rush had been appointed Elite Performance Director for the Welsh Football Trust, a part-time role in which he would help develop the next generation of players for Wales’ national teams.

Rush released his autobiography on 21 August 2008, Rush: The Autobiography, through Ebury Press.

On 26 April 2010, it was announced that Rush had returned to work with Liverpool FC, becoming the Club’s new Soccer Schools Ambassador and it was announced he would also work with the Club’s commercial team to help develop and support partnerships with other global sponsors and brands.

In summer 2010, as part of an outdoor installation in Chester that featured seventy life sized fibreglass rhinos each with unique artwork, one rhino was in honour of Ian Rush. The rhino was painted with a black moustache and wearing a Chester City football kit and boots. When the local council sold off the rhinos for charity, the Rush rhino was bought by phoenix club Chester which was formed after Chester City was wound up. It is currently on display by the entrance to the club’s stadium on the outskirts of Chester.

In August 2014, Rush was one of 200 public figures who were signatories to a letter to The Guardian opposing Scottish independence in the run-up to September’s referendum on that issue.

Rush was one of the pundits in first season (2014) of Indian Super League.

In August 2016, Rush was named as ambassador for the 2017 UEFA Champions League Final, which took place in Cardiff, Wales.

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