The time has come for me to say goodbye, as well as my other teammates who will be leaving at the end of the season.
I just want to say a massive thank you to everyone connected with this beautiful Football Club for this beautiful journey.
It's been actually unbelievable when it comes to my time being here, not only on the pitch, but off the pitch as well. I'm very grateful for everything. It's been an absolute pleasure, a blessing and some journey as well, because we've been through a lot of ups and downs.
I think the main thing I will take from this place, apart from obviously being out there on the football pitch and representing this Club, will be meeting a lot of great people. Not only the players, but a lot of the members of staff, the team behind the team. So, a massive thank you to them.
Without them, we can't really perform the way we would like to on the pitch every single day. So, a massive thank you to all the people who work at Rush Green and London Stadium.
I think I'm going to name all of them!
All the media people, the content team, the security team, the team at the reception - Kim who always gives you a hug when you walk in every single day and it makes you feel it's going to be a nice day, Andy and [the Club secretary] Andrew who is always very serious, the player care staff Stu, Charley and George, who are always very helpful, so a massive 'thank you' to them.
The kitchen staff, Hansi and his team, who deliver beautiful, amazing food every day.
The medical team - without them I don’t think I would have been able to carry on playing for so long, so massive 'thank you' to them. and they’ve been so important in terms of helping me improve and stay fit as I’ve got older. They’re probably relieved I won’t be there anymore so they don’t have to strap my ankles every single day!
Marek [the soft tissue therapist] who has left the Club, I love the guy! He's been unbelievable for me every single day, working with me, telling me how to carry on and stay fit at this age, so massive 'thank you' to the medical team. I really appreciate their work.
Then all the kit staff have been unbelievable. A huge, huge 'thank you' to Jamo. They are great personalities, and help you with anything you need. He's very helpful and very kind, as are Rob and Toby and Pete who comes in every now and then and is very loud!
Dougie and the greenkeeper team as well, thank you so much for all your work. They even helped me with a few tips when I was doing my own lawn at home! He even brought his own machine to my garden to sort it out! And also thank you to the groundstaff at the stadium as well.
I don't want to miss anyone from the team behind the team.
I want to thank all the coaching staff from throughout my time here at the Club. I’d like to start by thanking Manuel Pellegrini and his team, because they were the ones who signed me from Swansea, and put their trust in me, so a huge thank you to them..
And then, obviously, David Moyes and his staff, including Kevin Nolan, Billy [McKinlay] and everyone else. A massive thank you to them. I know things didn’t work out as planned with Julen [Lopetegui] and his team, but he showed his trust in me and I’m always going to be grateful for that.
Then, to Graham [Potter] and his staff. Even though they dropped me when they took over, I’ve really enjoyed working with them, so thank you to them for the last few months. I wish them all the very best for the future, because this Club is special, so I hope they will make it work and make the fans happy with the team they're trying to build.
I’d obviously like to say thank you to the Owners, the Board and the Joint-Chair [David Sullivan]. I'm 40 years old, and he always trusted me and they have always shown faith in me that I have the level to perform.
I have to mention Xavi [Valero], the Goalkeeper Coach, a bit separately. We came to the Club at almost exactly the same time, so we’ve been on the journey together. We’ve built a beautiful relationship - he’s always so supportive, and very stable when it comes to managing all the situations, the way he put the goalkeeping union together and the way he was able to work with us. He’s helped all the goalkeepers gel together during my time here, and we’ve developed a group that is competitive but that still has huge respect for each other, which is quite unique as it’s not easy to do. I also just want to thank Billy [Lepine], the Head of Academy Goalkeeping, too. He is an amazing guy as well, and he’s been very supportive.
I will say my thanks to my family separately, but to the fans, I want to say a huge thank you. With the years I’ve been at the Club, I understand where your passion comes from. I know I’m not the flashiest person, but I have always tried to represent this Club in the way I thought it should be represented, and I hope I did that.
To the fans, I appreciate all of you, and I’ve always worked as hard as I can for you. Thank you for an amazing journey. I hope I represented your Club in a good way.
