As I prepare to step out at Selhurst Park for one final time, I wanted to take this opportunity to explain to you all how much the last six-and-a-half seasons have meant to me.
Where I grew up, playing football in front of thousands of fans and millions more on television was a fantasy. My parents were fans of Red Star Belgrade, and my father took me to the ‘Eternal Derby’ against Partizan when I was just four-years-old. We arrived at the stadium six hours before kick-off – I remember a policeman asking him: ‘Are you crazy? How can you go in there with that young guy on your back?’
Standing with the ultras of Red Star, I just watched. I don’t remember the game, but from that moment I was in love with football. It stayed with me. When you are a kid, everything seems simple; you know what you love and what you don’t. I know that from that point on, football was inside my veins.
