Farewell To The King!

 

No goals or assists, just who Mo Salah really is...

Up The Villa!

 

 

Thirty years without a trophy, and 44 years since that historic European Cup triumph, Aston Villa have finally ended the wait -- with Unai Emery’s men overpowering Freiburg of Germany 3-0 in the Europa League final. Woohoo!

For a team that started the season with a string of losses and dreadful performances, lifting a European trophy and securing a place in next season’s Champions League makes this an unexpectedly wonderful campaign. And they’ve done it all despite those ridiculous financial restrictions too!

The best part? I genuinely believe the best is yet to come. Unai has shaped this side into a team that plays beautiful football, yet still has the grit and heart to grind out victories when things are not going their way. And importantly, the core of the squad remains. McGinn, Rogers, Konsa and the rest simply must be kept. Add a few smart new additions, and the Villans could genuinely challenge for even more honours from here on.

But for now, there’s nothing quite like enjoying that winning feeling!

Morning Walk, Mandatory Stop

Brisk walking at Taman Wawasan also means stopping to browse through some books. Yes, books!

Right in the middle of the park sits a quiet little outdoor library -- actually five of them -- filled with books you can just pick up and read.

Behind it all is Lee Kim Siew, a 90-year-old retired headmaster who still tends to these shelves every morning. What used to be a neglected space is now a peaceful corner for readers, built purely from love for books.

Same School, Two Generations -- STAR (2), JB

My late parents were meticulous document keepers. They never threw important papers away. Birth certificates, vaccination cards, letters, forms -- everything carefully folded into old envelopes and tucked safely into files.

Today, those files feel less like paperwork and more like a time capsule.

Inside are both of their original birth certificates from 1940, my father’s vaccination certificate from the same era, and my mother’s conversion certificate -- fragile, yellowed, edges soft with age. Whenever I share them online, people are always surprised that documents this old still exist. But to me, they’re more than records. They’re proof of lives lived long before I came along.

And then there’s this one -- my father’s School Leaving Certificate from 1955.

Typed out on a typewriter. Slightly crooked lines. Faded ink. The paper creased from being folded and refolded for decades. His name, Abdul Jalil b. Suleiman, neatly stamped into history. Attendance: 190 out of 193 days. Games: Football and Basketball. Conduct: Good. And a remark from the headmaster that stopped me in my tracks: “Reliable, honest boy, will do well in life.”

Reading that, I don’t just see my father. I see a skinny 15-year-old schoolboy in shorts and canvas shoes, probably running across the padang with his friends, not knowing what the future would hold. Not knowing he would one day become my dad.

He left Temenggong Abdul Rahman School in 1955. Twenty-three years later, I walked through the very same gates as a Darjah 1 student. Same school. Same grounds. Two generations, connected by one old piece of paper.

Funny how something so simple can carry so much love.

Thank You Mo Salah, Goodbye Liverpool

Woke up this morning to the news I think many of us knew was coming -- Mohamed Salah will be leaving Liverpool FC at the end of the 2025/26 season.

And yet... I didn’t feel shocked. Maybe because part of me had already said goodbye months ago, expecting it to happen during the January window.

What I did feel, though, was something heavier -- a quiet disappointment that’s been building all season. It’s hard to understand how a player who just helped deliver another Premier League title, while still producing extraordinary numbers, could be treated the way he has.

What makes it even harder to accept is the level of vitriol that’s been directed at him this season. Yes, by his own incredibly high standards, it may not have been his best year -- but to see Salah subjected to constant criticism, name-calling, and disrespect over a relatively below-par run is deeply unfair. This is a player who has carried the club for years, who has delivered time and again when it mattered most. To reduce all of that to a few difficult months feels not just harsh, but completely devoid of perspective and gratitude.

If anything, this past year has slowly changed how I see the club. I never imagined I’d feel this disconnected from something I’ve supported all my life. But watching how Salah has been handled -- by both the club and sections of the fanbase -- made that distance grow, week by week.

Eight incredible seasons. Relentless consistency. Total commitment. And yet, it somehow led to this.

It makes you question things. Is this really what supporting this club has become? Because even through the long, painful decades without a league title, I don’t remember a player being treated like this.

So yes, there’s sadness -- but also, strangely, a sense of closure. Salah leaving feels like the final chapter, not just for him, but for my own journey with the club.

That said, the memories will always stay. From the early days of following the team, to standing at Anfield, to witnessing that unforgettable Champions League trophy parade in 2019 --- those moments are part of me.

I’ll still go back to the classics. Watching Kenny Dalglish, Steven Gerrard, Ian Rush, and of course Salah, doing what they did best. I’ll revisit the stories, the matches, the history I’ve held onto for so long.

But that’s what it will be now -- history.

As for Salah... thank you. For the goals, the magic, the consistency, and the humility. A true legend of the game and an even better human being.

I genuinely believe we won’t see another like you -- not just in what you did on the pitch, but in who you were off it.