"We all agreed that to avoid a bad injury it is time for me to stop playing, " Ibanez said.

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For instance, at times the pain was so bad that all I wanted to do was lay in bed, but Dr Thomas has encouraged me to go out for a walk, or to sit in the garden.

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"The debate about the plight of the lemurs and what should be done about them, and whether or not my idea was a good idea or bad idea was certainly an eye-opener to me and I suspect to all of us, " he said in a recent e-mail.

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"I said in the huddle, 'E, throw it up to me, '" said Nicks, who nursed a bad hamstring strain all week.

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"I've never heard a bad word from them, I've never had arguments with them and all they say to me is positive things, " the striker told BBC Radio Stoke.

BBC: Kitson thankful for Stoke support