[all_funkt_up]

Good stuff here. Never seen an ex-player write back to the club to address the fans. Here's a letter from Luis Garcia to Liverpool fans, written recently following his move to Atletico Madrid:

Dear Reds,

First of all I'd like to apologise for not having been back in touch
sooner, but I needed to take some time to take on board all the
recent changes and then to put down these words for you.

I'm sure you will understand.

I would rather this be a letter of thanks and gratitude, not simply a
goodbye.

Yes, that's right, gratitude, because that is the word that best sums
up my feelings for you all.

Taking the decision to change clubs hasn't been easy. Not easy at
all.

I've experienced three fantastic years at the club and in the city.
Three years in which together, the fans and the team, we have
accomplished some fantastic achievements, and I'm sure that these
successes will continue to be repeated in the near future.

You know that I like a challenge and that I don't just settle for
second best.

Back then Liverpool Football Club gave me the opportunity to be part
of an ambitious plan to put the Reds back at the summit of the game.

I think that together we managed to achieve that.

As I said, I do like challenges and in spite of the fact that at that
time I was playing for my home town club, one of the biggest in the
world, I wanted to be a part of that project that was being presented
to me by Liverpool, and so I accepted the challenge.

Now, after three seasons in the Premier League and having won some
major trophies, the chance came up for me to return to La Liga and be
part of a new project at a club I already knew.

The idea of enjoying things in a Spanish club like we experienced
together at Liverpool over these last three years appealed to me, and
that's why I accepted the offer.

I want to thank everyone working at Liverpool Football Club for how
well they have treated both my family and I, making us feel at home
from the very first day to the last.

I also want to thank the management, coaching staff and directors for
the opportunity they gave me back then to be part of such an
important and well-loved club as Liverpool. A club which has helped
me to grow as a footballer and where to date I have enjoyed the
biggest success of my career.

Without a doubt, this success has been possible thanks to the
outstanding group of players with whom Ive been able to share a
dressing room over the last three seasons.

I'm not going to mention anyone specifically, because I think that
the secret of this team's success has been exactly that: nobody
wanted to stand out above the rest and there has always been a great
togetherness in the squad, which made it into something more than a
group of players, it was a group of friends.

Thanks to all of you for your help and your friendship.

I've left until last the thank you which for me is the most
important: Thank you to the supporters.

Your support allowed me to settle quickly at both the club and in the
city, and you made me feel really at ease with you all right from the
word go; that's the kind of help that you notice most of all during
the difficult times, of which there have been a few during my time
here.

I'd like to especially thank you for making up a song for me and you
should know that every time I heard you singing it, it was like an
extra injection of strength and motivation, even helping me to
overcome pain occasionally during a game.

Your unconditional support is the thing that ensures that this team
manages to pull through in the most difficult circumstances; and I
can assure you that the whole squad is aware of this and thanks you
for it.

A football club isn't just made up of players, coaches and directors.
More than anything else it's the supporters who make a club, and that
perhaps is the ingredient which best distinguishes Liverpool Football
Club from every other team. The supporters.

Because if one thing has remained obvious to me after these few
years, it's that with supporters like you, Liverpool Football Club
will never walk alone.

I really hope that the club wins lots of major trophies in the
future; I'll be following it all from a distance, with the pride that
you can only get from having been a Red and played for the home team
at Anfield – a ground that every football fan must visit at least
once in their life.

Thank you for everything. Yours most sincerely,

Your friend, Luís García