I support the Bulldogs in the NRL and The Reds in the EPL. Over the last 12 months both these teams have lost a star player from their roster for the upcoming season.
Below are two letters/columns written by both Willie & Luis, can you spot the difference?
Willie Mason:
I have totally lost all respect for Steve Folkes. When I did my press conferences on Thursday, I made sure I didn't say a bad word against the Bulldogs. Not one bad word against the coach. On my part, I believe I showed loyalty in sticking with the club for 10 years.
I took pay cuts and deferred payments with every single contract to help them with the salary cap. I could have come out and bagged the Bulldogs but I have too much respect for the club and the players.
I do not have respect for Folkes. I can't believe he came out and bagged me on Friday. He had the chance to shut his big mouth but he didn't because he's obviously dirty on me.
The one thing that I've got that he'll never have is the support of the players.
What he says doesn't really matter because he'll be out of a job at the end of next year. The only reason he's there is because Malcolm Noad signed him up - and now Folksey's trying to keep sweet with Noad.
I didn't want to play this game, but if Folkes wants to play hardball, I'll give it to him.
I thought he was a bigger man than that but he couldn't just help himself - he had to give me a serve. I gave everything for that club and I shouldn't have to deal with this. How dare he slam me.
I've had calls from lots of leading coaches in recent weeks asking about how I was coping. I didn't get one missed call from him.
He is a poor coach. I never learnt anything from him in 10 years - other than to catch and pass. He had the best roster in the game for six or seven years and we only won one comp - the only reason we won was because of the players, not him.
The coach had nothing to do with it, it was all about the players. We did it for us, not him. We should have won four comps in that time, not one. If we had a decent coach like Brad Fittler, Ricky Stuart or Craig Bellamy, I'd be sitting back with four premiership rings, not one.
I can't believe he called me a bad influence on the younger players - I've been a good influence on those kids. He wouldn't have half the team there if it wasn't for me. We'll see what influence he has when half his team leaves next year. Then you'll see what type of influence I had over the club. Nobody wants to be coached by him because he's the most unapproachable, boring man I've ever met.
A few of the boys have rung me during the week and said going to training was like going to a funeral. It's terrible. There's nothing there, none of the boys know each other. That bond that we had for five or six years together is gone.
I'm very disappointed in him, as a man, to come out like this. If he had something to say, he could have rung me. He could have called me into his office and said, "What's going on?". But he didn't. That's why no one gets along with him.
Ask him if he's got one mate in the whole world. Even guys who played with him in the 1980s say he has no personality.
The only reason I became a better player was because I dealt with great coaches like Wayne Bennett and Ricky Stuart at rep level. That's the only time I learned anything.
Don't get me wrong, I still love the Bulldogs. I love the players and what the club is all about. But what Folkes has done is below the belt.
I could have unloaded at him at the press conference and hammered him about how I didn't learn a thing off him in 10 years.
There were reports that the players wanted him gone - those reports are true. Almost all the players don't want him there. At the end of the season, he was saying to the players, "Am I the problem? Am I the reason we haven't achieved?".
Of course, he's the problem! He reckons that I'm the guy who ratted him out to the media and said he's the problem. Nobody did. He's just paranoid about his job. I was the one who stood up with him in front of the board and this is how he repays me.
I'm sorry I wasn't one of Folksey's clones. He just wants little monkeys to coach, but I'm a bit out of the box.
I'd been there for 10 years and not once did he have the balls to bag me to my face. Now that I'm gone he couldn't wait to rip into me. It was very disappointing on my behalf, because I didn't want things to end this way.
Now for Luis Garcia:
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 I've 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
Just shows that what you do off the field is just as important as what you do on it. William Mason is a great footballer one of the best 2nd rowers I have seen, but as an individual he is... you decide the rest.
Below are two letters/columns written by both Willie & Luis, can you spot the difference?
Willie Mason:
I have totally lost all respect for Steve Folkes. When I did my press conferences on Thursday, I made sure I didn't say a bad word against the Bulldogs. Not one bad word against the coach. On my part, I believe I showed loyalty in sticking with the club for 10 years.
I took pay cuts and deferred payments with every single contract to help them with the salary cap. I could have come out and bagged the Bulldogs but I have too much respect for the club and the players.
I do not have respect for Folkes. I can't believe he came out and bagged me on Friday. He had the chance to shut his big mouth but he didn't because he's obviously dirty on me.
The one thing that I've got that he'll never have is the support of the players.
What he says doesn't really matter because he'll be out of a job at the end of next year. The only reason he's there is because Malcolm Noad signed him up - and now Folksey's trying to keep sweet with Noad.
I didn't want to play this game, but if Folkes wants to play hardball, I'll give it to him.
I thought he was a bigger man than that but he couldn't just help himself - he had to give me a serve. I gave everything for that club and I shouldn't have to deal with this. How dare he slam me.
I've had calls from lots of leading coaches in recent weeks asking about how I was coping. I didn't get one missed call from him.
He is a poor coach. I never learnt anything from him in 10 years - other than to catch and pass. He had the best roster in the game for six or seven years and we only won one comp - the only reason we won was because of the players, not him.
The coach had nothing to do with it, it was all about the players. We did it for us, not him. We should have won four comps in that time, not one. If we had a decent coach like Brad Fittler, Ricky Stuart or Craig Bellamy, I'd be sitting back with four premiership rings, not one.
I can't believe he called me a bad influence on the younger players - I've been a good influence on those kids. He wouldn't have half the team there if it wasn't for me. We'll see what influence he has when half his team leaves next year. Then you'll see what type of influence I had over the club. Nobody wants to be coached by him because he's the most unapproachable, boring man I've ever met.
A few of the boys have rung me during the week and said going to training was like going to a funeral. It's terrible. There's nothing there, none of the boys know each other. That bond that we had for five or six years together is gone.
I'm very disappointed in him, as a man, to come out like this. If he had something to say, he could have rung me. He could have called me into his office and said, "What's going on?". But he didn't. That's why no one gets along with him.
Ask him if he's got one mate in the whole world. Even guys who played with him in the 1980s say he has no personality.
The only reason I became a better player was because I dealt with great coaches like Wayne Bennett and Ricky Stuart at rep level. That's the only time I learned anything.
Don't get me wrong, I still love the Bulldogs. I love the players and what the club is all about. But what Folkes has done is below the belt.
I could have unloaded at him at the press conference and hammered him about how I didn't learn a thing off him in 10 years.
There were reports that the players wanted him gone - those reports are true. Almost all the players don't want him there. At the end of the season, he was saying to the players, "Am I the problem? Am I the reason we haven't achieved?".
Of course, he's the problem! He reckons that I'm the guy who ratted him out to the media and said he's the problem. Nobody did. He's just paranoid about his job. I was the one who stood up with him in front of the board and this is how he repays me.
I'm sorry I wasn't one of Folksey's clones. He just wants little monkeys to coach, but I'm a bit out of the box.
I'd been there for 10 years and not once did he have the balls to bag me to my face. Now that I'm gone he couldn't wait to rip into me. It was very disappointing on my behalf, because I didn't want things to end this way.
Now for Luis Garcia:
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 I've 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
Just shows that what you do off the field is just as important as what you do on it. William Mason is a great footballer one of the best 2nd rowers I have seen, but as an individual he is... you decide the rest.
