Take us back to Hajduk Split. Aside from what happened with the payments, just give us a flavour of what it's like to be at a club like that and the Torcida?

The Torcida, that club, I love with all my heart. The people are what make that club. The region is what makes it. It's everyone's blood, sweat and tears for the last 100 years that make that club what it is. There is so much emotion, so much passion, that it's impossible for me to describe unless you go to a game when they're playing their arch rival Dinamo or they're playing in Europe and you experience the full stadium.

Or you walk through that city on game day or any other day of the week, the city is covered in club and Torcida murals, every second wall has got the emblem, has got the Torcida avatar. I only played 15 games all up including friendlies, but in amongst that I got to play against Dinamo, I got to play against Stoke in the Europa League, I got to play in full houses and I got to wear the captain’s armband

I got to experience what it's like to play for my dream club and for many young boys dreams of Croatian background and I don't regret one minute. I don't regret one second. I look back on my time there with great fondness and from day one i connected with the fans because I went there for less money than I could of gotten anywhere else. I rejected other offers just so that I could play with that club, and I guess that resonated with the fans and it always does when you play with your heart. I'll eventually go back there and i'll go to the southern part of the ground called and i'll be jumping up and down with Torcida because that's where I belong, I'm a fan.

And that reminds us all of scene with you in Newcastle with the fans as well, jumping up and down. You really do connect with the hardcore fans who just love the game.

I guess anyone who's extremely passionate, at times fanatical, and is unafraid to live life with their heart on their sleeve and dare to dream, I connect with automatically. And quite often they are the fanatical supporters, the diehard, the hard-core people that people don't really understand and want to understand. But you don't have to, you just have to let yourself be free and be in the momen and enjoy it for what it is.

You must look at fans like the Wanderers fans in Sydney and realise that they have a similar passion to the Torcida, not as big but similar. Your thoughts?

Look, I watched from afar this year and I was really pleased that the FFA, Frank Lowy and David Gallop and obviously everyone else involved finally put a team in the west. It was a great decision and a great move because that's the heart and soul of football in this country. You go to that crowd and you ask those kids, adults, men, women and children and at some stage or another it would of been Croatia supporters, Marconi supporters, Sydney Olympic Supporters, Parramatta Melita supporters, APIA Leichhardt.

They would of come from every different club in the west, and it's just a beautiful way that the league transformed and unite them all as one under one umbrella and it can basically blow away everyone's mind in this country and what soccer means to them and the way you can support, and it can be completely positive. I know there were times when certain sections of the media try to be negative about them, but that's just a little bit of their misunderstanding. If you go there on game day there's no way you couldn't get swept away with the emotion and the energy they create.

And how well do you know Tony Popovic and what was your take on his first season as a senior coach?

Popa and I were briefly together during my national team days. Popa as a player was one of the biggest professionals I ever came across and obviously he transferred that into a coaching career and obviously with “Tezza” [assistant coach Ante Milicic]  there as well, they are two great guys who connected with their teams and it was obvious the team played for each other. No one expected them to do anything last year and especially in the beginning a lot people were questioning the direction possibly or questioning why they were brought in so quickly with lack of time to prepare, but they stuck true to what they know and that's something that they've built up over the last 25 years of their careers as footballers.

To me and to people who know Popa and Tezza it's no real surprise. I think you only have to meet them once to realise that they're both going to be successful in their careers irrespective of whether they coach in Australia, or go back overseas but people like them and Ange, Graham Arnold, they've challenged themselves to learn and it's obvious when you watch their teams play that they understand the game of football.

Anything else you wanted to say?

 I just want to say sorry to every Australian of every colour, race, background, denomination, sexuality for offending you in anyway. It was never my intention. I wasn't being true to myself and therefore I was unnecessarily causing conflict in my life and in no way shape or form that I blame anyone but myself for what I experienced up until now.

I just hope that people understand and that I've forgiven myself for it over time. My actions will speak louder than my words.I've said so much i feel the need to say sorry as well.