A young Huddersfield Town fan melted hearts with his honesty after finding a £5 note at the John Smith’s Stadium in 2017.
Adam Bhana was at the John Smiths stadium to see the Terriers’ 2-1 victory over Manchester United. The youngster found a £5 note at the football ground. Having been taught, “we cannot keep what is not ours,” he thought of the perfect recipient.
In a heart-warming letter written in pencil to former club director Sean Jarvis, Adam suggested that the former manager David Wagner give the cash to Australian international, Aaron Mooy, who scored the winner as Town won 2-1, the first time the club had beaten Manchester United in 65 years.
Adam enclosed the £5 note along with his letter. Mr Jarvis tweeted a picture of the letter with the caption: “Pure class from Young Adam,” thus ensuring it went viral, creating international headlines. Mooy himself would also later reply to the tweet, saying: “I would love to meet you, Adam.”
Adam would get to meet his hero and was given a signed football along with a signed pair of football boots by the Australian international.
However, for Adam, this is where the story only begins!
Adam’s dad, Mohammed always said he would like to write a second book, if the concept was right, after his first book, The Asian Liverbird, commissioned by Liverpool Football Club, hit the shelves in 2008.
Featuring a foreword by Kenny Dalglish, the book features interviews with the likes of former Liverpool and England Captain Steven Gerrard, Momo Sissoko, John Barnes, Sir Tom Finney and a 5,000 word interview with the man set to be the club’s next Manager, Xabi Alonso.
Since Mohammed dedicated his previous book to Adam, as his youngest son Ismaeel was born a few years after the book was published, therefore, he was not acknowledged in the Asian Liverbird book.
Ismaeel, 11, gave his dad a brief to include him as a character in a book as a superhero, influencing Mohammed by writing him a sweet note in which he scribbled: “My dad is a superhero, he is so cool.”
After some deliberation, Mohammed set out to write a book, under the pen name, Mo Bhana, around the £5 note story and include both boys in the book as superheroes.
Mohammed, who was awarded the Professional of the Year and best Marketed Business of the Year awards for his work as Communications and PR for renowned automotive design company, Project Kahn and Chelsea Truck Company, said writing a superhero book was a challenge, even though the word count is “only 30,000 words as opposed to the 125,000 word count in the book commissioned by Liverpool Football Club.”
“I promised Ismaeel I would write the book. However, the entire process, the character and story development, notwithstanding the proof reading and editing took me over a year to complete,” said Mohammed.
In the story, the £5 note is miraculously returned to Adam, and from within it, unbeknownst to Adam, former British Prime Minister, Winston Churchill appears in order to inform the youngster, that he is one of very few people who believes in the power of gratitude and is the hero that the world needs.
Adam, who will be turning 16 in May, is then transformed into an adult superhero, the world’s mightiest mortal, 5, who has been bestowed with super powers to make the world a better place. Ismaeel is also bestowed with super powers, at the behest of his brother and is given the moniker, i5.
Alongside the boys, Mohammed included a number of personal elements into the story. This includes the creation of the principal nemesis in the book, the CLAW.
“The Claw was inspired by Jim Carey’s Liar Liar movie, a memorable scene from the film features Carey’s character making his son laugh by contorting his hand and tickling him with it, referring to it as the Claw.
“The CLAW, an evil nemesis, capable of creating evil subservient CLAWBOTS, who are known for their brutality, is intent on capturing Adam, as his wholesome character is the biggest threat to the CLAW’s vision, which is take over the world’s economy, therefore, he needs to get hold of the £5 note and use it to further his agenda by creating his own physical and digital currency.”
Another personal touch was referencing Mohammed’s favourite City, Basel in Switzerland.
“The final battle takes place in Basel, my favourite city, which is Switzerland’s capital of culture and mentions my favourite places, such as the Rheingasse area, River Rhine, Mittlere Brucke bridge and the Augusta Raurica ruins.”
Mohammed insists he could not decide on how to write the ending. It was only when he took the boys to watch WWE Smackdown Live and Money In The Bank at the 02 in London, in June/July 2023 along with AEW Wrestling’s ALL IN event at Wembley Stadium in August 2023, that he got the inspiration he needed in order to complete the final chapter.
“I knew it needed another angle. It was only whilst we were watching Money In The Bank and AEW ALL IN that I envisaged how the ending would work.
“The blurred lines are what makes wrestling/sports entertainment fun to follow. Sure, the in-ring athleticism can be spectacular, yet the ability to tell a story along with the character development is fascinating.
“Being part of a live crowd is something that I wanted to portray this in the book after having seen the reaction that the likes of Batley lad, Luke Menzies, who is known as Ridge Holland, Roman Reigns, Cody Rhodes, Seth Rollins and Sami Zayn received at the WWE events at the 02 in London.
“However, when John Cena made an appearance, the roof nearly came off, it was mental.
“Furthermore, watching the likes of Christian Cage, the Blackpool Combat Club, Trent Baretta, Orange Cassidy, Will Osperay, MJF, The Young Bucks, Kenny Omega, Christian Cage, who’s promos are absolutely epic, Sting, Darby Allin and Chris Jericho, who came out to his Judas theme song in front of 80,000 plus at AEW ALL IN at Wembley Stadium, only served to strengthen the sports entertainment centric element to the story.”
It is envisaged the book will appeal to people from a variety of backgrounds and generations as the message is wholesome, whilst Mohammed believes that kindness is central to what in needed in the crazy world that we live in.
“The book explores a plethora themes and subjects such as superheroes, morality, football, sports entertainment, wrestling, friendships and why parents should ultimately be ideal role models to their children. In addition, it is great to see that Adam and Ismaeel’s heroes come from a variety of backgrounds, countries and faiths.
“The boys will be looking forward to watching WWE LIVE at the 02 in London and AEW ALL IN 2024 at Wembley Stadium in August, safe in the knowledge that their heroes will have hopefully received copies of the book. We hope they and everyone else enjoy reading the book as much as I enjoyed writing the book as it has many layers to it. It’s been a very interesting journey and I’m already working on an idea for a sequel.”
Mohammed thanked Amazon who will be offering the book across all their platforms whilst also offering the book to a number or retailers and bookshops across the UK and beyond.
“I’d like to take this opportunity to thank my publishers Amazon for giving me the opportunity to publish my second book, after so many years out of the book publishing industry. I knew I had to be very disciplined and focused to complete the book and they allowed me ample time, to complete it.
Mohammed also explained how the book cover was designed by members of the design team at the Chelsea Truck Company and Project Kahn.
He said: “These guys work with our CEO, Afzal Kahn to design cars that are unveiled at the Geneva Motor Show and are featured on TV shows, newspapers and magazines around the world. Therefore, the fact that they spent hours perfecting and creating the front cover for me is phenomenal.
“Our videography team also created a fantastic promotional video for me. Therefore, the quality of the promotional material is also exceptional.”
The book, released on the 1st of March has been well received thus far. The book has been reviewed by The Yorkshire Post’s Ismail Mulla, who has described the book as ‘A Labour of love by a talented writer’.
The book can be ordered via Amazon: FIVE: by M Bhana : Bhana, Mo: Amazon.co.uk: Books
To find out more about Mohammed Bhana follow him on Instagram: mo_bhana_