Aston Villa: Stiliyan Petrov ready to symbolise villain to hero transformation
STILIYAN Petrov’s hands holding aloft the Carling Cup trophy would be a fitting symbol of the Villa captain’s remarkable tranformation from villain to hero, according to manager Martin O’Neill.
But while such a scene is a very real prospect come 5 o’clock tomorrow, O’Neill admits there was a time when he thought Petrov would be quitting Villa rather than leading them out at Wembley.
Call it single-mindedness or call it stubbornness, O’Neill’s decision to keep faith in Petrov while all around him were losing their’s has been vindicated by the Bulgarian’s brave revival.
Rewind to February 9, 2008, and a match against Newcastle and O’Neill feared Petrov’s Villa career was over when he failed to emerge from the dressing room after being hauled off at half-time.
Instead, Petrov has emerged as the inspirational leader of an ambitious set of players determined to make a mark in the higher echelons of the English game.
O’Neill is reluctant to take any of the plaudits for former the playmaker’s remarkable rebirth as a holding midfielder and insists the new and improved Petrov is down to the captain’s commitment rather than the manager’s patient approach.
“I think that you’d have to give him the credit for all of that,” insists O’Neill. “There were times I’m quite sure he must have even doubted whether he could fight back.
“There was one game I remember when it was very poor from him first-half so I took him off at half- time and I really thought that he would have a long way back.
“But he never gave up and I should have known that. I should have known that Stiliyan Petrov would never pack it in, particularly since the job that he’d come down to do was really unfinished.
“So from that viewpoint I’m, pleased for the crowd to have seen what was in him and what was in his character as much as his play.”
Such is Petrov’s importance to O’Neill’s class of 2010 that the Villa boss was fretting over a virus which laid the 30-year-old low earlier this week.
Having played through the pain with ankle and Achilles problems in recent matches, O’Neill was worried when Petrov was too ill for Wednesday night’s FA Cup win over Crystal Palace.
Knowing the former Celtic star’s commitment to the cause, Petrov probably would have dragged himself kicking and screaming off his sickbed to play tomorrow.
Fortunately he won’t have to. Just as cup fever has risen around the club, Petrov’s own fever has subsided, a recovery which comes as an almighty relief to O’Neill.
“It’s really important for us to have him fit,” he admits. “He’s been really terrific and in the last two years he’s been consistently brilliant. I’m delighted for him.
“He would normally fight through anything. He’s played a lot of the games and he’s played with a niggling injury he’s been carrying around. Having said that most of the players are carrying injuries and knocks at this stage of the season. But for illness to knock him was a bit surprising.”
O’Neill believes Petrov’s attitude as much as his ability and his adaptability has been a crucial factor in winning over an unconvinced Villa Park public following his early struggles.
The Irishman had high hopes for his first Villa signing after an encouraging claret and blue bow against West Ham only for the player’s confidence and performance level to dip.
However, instead of throwing in the towel, Petrov was Villa’s double player of the season award winner last season and has lead by example throughout this term’s three-pronged challenge for glory.
“I first envisaged him being the player I knew at Celtic,” explains O’Neill. “He was an attacking midfield player with Neil Lennon the one who did the holding to allow Stiliyan to get forward.
“Here he started off like that and in actual fact his debut was as good a debut as I’ve seen. It was against West Ham United, and I thought we really had a player on our hands. “But he lost confidence and maybe just a change on environment was difficult to come to terms with immediately. “He got a bit homesick for Glasgow which is a bit strange considering he’s a Bulgarian! He took a long time to settle and had to overcome the wrath of the crowd.
“That’s why I’ve got the utmost regard for him because he could really have chucked it in and felt ‘Well, this club’s not for me’. But he was prepared to go and battle.”
So strong is the relationship between O’Neill and Petrov that the no-nonsense manager even cuts his dressing room shop steward more slack than he should on behalf of the other players. “He’s been a really great captain, on the field with the players and he’s been great off the field,” adds O’Neill.
“If the players have got any little annoyances then he’ll come to see me and he gets away with more things with me than he should do.
“He’s done so well over the last two years that he’s deserved to be the captain.”
After a cloudy start to his Villa career, that image of Petrov clutching a cup adorned with claret and blue ribbons would be the ultimate silver lining.
