Dear Mr Al Hasawi,
You’re one of us. A fan of Nottingham Forest Football Club. We don’t doubt it – we saw the way you celebrated the win at Derby, we saw you pose in front of the flag outside the City Ground, we’ve seen you live through the highs and lows.
You say you want this football club to succeed. So do we, desperately. The investment you’ve made cannot be questioned but where is the plan? There has to be a plan. There has to be a structure. There has to be strategy. There has to be the right people in place for Nottingham Forest to succeed.
Off the pitch and on it, our club has to be run in the right way or success will never be achieved. Look at the recent success stories in football, like Southampton and Swansea – these are clubs that identified their issues and created a...
Sport
Dear Randy,
We're glad you have finally acknowledged that Paul Lambert was no longer the right man for the job.
Hopefully your decision wasn’t too late, and it was in time to preserve Aston Villa’s Premier League future.
But for all the departed manager’s failings – and there were many – every single member of the Villa Park faithful knows the problems at the football club run much deeper than the 45-year-old Glaswegian.
The club might be Scot-free, but you’re far from Scot free, Randy.
There are big questions that need answering, and we’d love to sit round the table and talk about the things that really matter.
Sacking Paul Lambert should just be the start, rather than the end, of the decisive action you take.
We understand you’re 5,000 miles away – that Atlantic is...
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To Manchester United:
I write this note to thank all the Manchester United family for the great support received during the year I've been part of this Club.
When Manchester United chose me as part of their team I felt extremely honoured because I knew what this Club means and how it trusted me.
Nevertheless, I'm aware things didn't work as we all expected and believe me, I feel really sorry about it. However in the career of a football player sometimes the unexpected and unwanted may happen.
I can guarantee you it was not for trying. I did my best but football is not like maths: often a lot of things out of our control affect the way we feel and the way things turn out. I am sorry it did not work out as I would have wished in this amazing huge club.
I want to give special...
7,567
Dear Mr. Murphy,
As a gay man, life-long Mets fan, and father of a budding Mets fan, I feel compelled to reach out to you, as you have certainly reached me with your feelings regarding my family.
To me, you are a great baseball player who has demonstrated commitment and determination when faced with adversity. I have followed you in your quest to become an All-Star second baseman and truly admire what you have accomplished.
To my son, you are more – you are a role model. I understand that may not have been something you signed up for, but for better or worse, for him and others like him, you are larger than life.
Let me try to explain why what you said was not an innocuous soundbite, but rather an offensive statement.
First, I do not have a lifestyle. I didn't choose my...
2,249
With the second half of this year's MotoGP well on its way I am particularly excited to see where the winner's trophy is going to end up. For me the likes of formula 1 too frequently tends to be a one horse race and this dulls the excitement. I was fortunate to watch the grand prix in Dubai with a group of friends last year and let me tell you it was a pretty boring affair from the off with no one even touching Lewis Hamilton and the majority of us ended up just sitting indoors waiting for it to end.
But MotoGP feels different to me and in particular because of the participation of Valentino Rossi. Having recently broken Angel Nieto's 29 year old record, Rossi now has the record for the longest interval between the first grand prix podium finish and the latest podium finish across all...
3,514
I write this letter to pass my disappointment especially when I realise that Arsene Wenger and the management seem to be a bit comfortable with the way things are.
Every season we start with a loss to these lowly teams and we don't win any titles. Why does the coach have to test our success at the beginning of every season using the wrong tactics?
As we speak, other teams are getting the best players in the field and Wenger is busy telling us that we have the best players who have been playing all along and never win anything. Our goalkeeper Ospina played very well last season and where is he?
And he bought an old Cech! We need players that will make us title contenders – not the players who play good football going nowhere.
Wenger needs to buy players who have the mind to win...
4,913
Dear Fabian,
We have deliberately taken our time before writing you this letter because we are loathe to make any rash statements that we may later regret, even once, let alone twice.
It's more than 24 hours now since you completed your messy, faith-destroying move to Manchester City and ensured your new status as Villa Park's public enemy No.1.
But those 'Delph You Snake!' banners, those Facebook clips of fans burning replica shirts bearing your name, those mocking memes on social media all could have been avoided if only you had not laid it on so thick.
If only you had not tried to trumpet yourself as the second coming of commitment, if only you had not awarded yourself the loyal seal of approval.
You could have gone to Manchester City with your reputation intact had you not...
9,542
I was 12 when I helped my NCAFA team, the Orleans Bengals, put together an off-season program aimed at helping kids like me (bullied, angry and socially isolated) develop stronger social skills and a sense of community – both of which are key protective factors to help young people cope with bullying.
I had no idea what I was doing, neither did my mother who was helping administer the program and interestingly enough, my coaches didn’t know exactly what do to either.
Football coaches are in charge and direct their players with authority and command respect and discipline on and off the field. Direction usually starts at the top, with the head coach, filters to the coordinators, down to position coaches and finally to the players. So imagining a scenario where coaches shared program...
5,486
My girlfriend likes to do the classic 'let me pick a movie', then she takes unto an hour to decide what she wants to watch and promptly falls asleep after the first five minutes. So the other day it was her 'turn' to choose a movie and she said lets watch Trainwreck, tired of protesting I agreed and we settled down to watch it.
First of all I had no idea LeBron was in it! Bill Hader is a funny guy who has never seemed to be able to crack a lead role and I wasn't too familiar with Amy Schumer's work either. But upon watching it all three of them shined and if there's an indication of how enjoyable it was it is that my girlfriend stayed up to watch the whole thing.
But LeBron was perhaps my biggest surprise! In a film that also featured sportsman John Cena in a hilarious role, it was...
2,397
Dear Fans,
Friday was a very special day for me.
In my first at-bat against the Tigers, I was fortunate enough to collect the 3,000th hit of my career. At Yankee Stadium.
And it was a home run.
As I was circling the bases at a pace respectful to both my opponents and the game we love, I pinched myself to make sure it was all really happening.
It was.
The ball was really in the right-field stands. I was really in the middle of a home run trot. I was really living this dream.
And all I could think was: I am humbled by the opportunity to be a member of the 3,000-Hit Club, the most important club in sports history. There may be even fewer people in the 600-Homer and 2,000-RBI Clubs I share with only my hero Hank Aaron, but none of them means as much as being a part of...
2,870