With the end of the year approaching, and in the last week of pre-season training before our Christmas break, I felt it an opportune time to sit down and do a final Richards Report for 2012.

My younger brother Xavier is now at the club, and with two Jacks at the club now too, it’s looking like I will have an incredible amount of material to write about in 2013.

However, with Manchester United coming out to Australia in July, I know it means only one thing … it’s time to write Manchester United defender (and my doppelgänger) Nemanja Vidic another letter.

Dear Nemanja,

I see that you’re coming out to Sydney in July - that’s awesome!

Not sure what the story is with team accommodation when you play for Manchester United. Do you get billeted out to families in Sydney?

If you need a place to stay while you’re here you can stay at my place.

Bad news is that I did have a spare bedroom that you could have stayed in, but my younger brother has recently moved into that and now calls it home.

Good news is that my couch is pretty comfortable and will be free - it’s a three-person couch, so you can almost lie straight on it. I’ve got Foxtel too.

I wasn’t too familiar with the food you are used to back in your homeland Serbia so I did some research. The Internet informs me that the Serbian diet is mainly made up of coffee, meat and the odd glass of plum brandy. Well, I’m pretty well stocked with the first two items but after checking my pantry, I’m all out of traditional Serbian plum brandy at the moment.

It’s great to see that you’ve comeback from your knee injury. A teammate of mine by the name of Jude Bolton had a bad injury to his knee too … but he only missed one week and played out the season on one leg.

Well, looking forward to seeing you in July. I hope you still have the highly valuable Ted Richards player card that I sent you last time. It’s worth at least AUD$1.50 right now. Be sure to keep it safe.

See you soon,

Ted Richards

P.S. Say hi to Van Persie for me. Looks like he’s got more grey hairs now than Brett Kirk.

Well, that’s it for another year from me.

The guys are training well. In my own opinion Alex Johnson, Jarrad McVeigh, Shane Mumford and Craig Bird are the standouts on the track. Jesse White has been training hard too and is running well.

Congratulations to Marty Mattner and his wife Chelsea on the birth of young Oscar last week.

If you’re stuck for Christmas present ideas, what about giving someone a Sydney Swans membership? It doesn’t matter if they’re a Swans fan or not … actually it’s even better if they’re not.

Merry Christmas and see you next in 2013 when pre-season continues.

Ted Richards
@tedrichards25