Captain marvel Stiliyan Petrov could be offered an Aston Villa coaching role by Paul Lambert when he completes his brave battle against leukaemia.Petrov, who is in remission and said to be doing well, is being lined up for a youth team position with the claret and bluesIt is still too soon to know whether the popular 33-year-old midfielder will be fit enough to return to Villa in a playing capacity.Lambert insists Petrov would be suited to a youth-coaching role and that any appointment would be made for professional not sentimental reasons.“At the moment it’s too soon, because he’s still in the remission,” said Lambert, ahead of Villa’s trip to Manchester City this afternoon.“I think Randy Lerner and Paul Faulkner will look after him and this football club will look after him, which I think is only right.“As a mate and a footballer he was one of the best lads I’ve played alongside.“He’s said to me he wouldn’t want to get into something he thought was just for sentimental reasons.“I think he’d want to do it because he felt he could do it and he was good at it and he could pass his experience on."I don’t think he would go into the hard, raw football management with the stress levels and that. I think he would look at maybe doing something with kids, where there’s no stress.“You’ve got to remember it was life-threatening, that’s not something to be taken lightly.“Every time I see him when I look at him now it brings a tear to your eye. Because that’s a guy that I was really, really close with and thank God he’s nearly there.“This football club’s missed him, people tend to forget that. The club’s been hurt by what he’s been through because he’s been a big loss to it but he’s a proper guy.”Lambert watched Petrov come of age as a footballer at Celtic, going from ‘the Nutty Professor’ to a dressing room leader and he believes he would make an ideal role model and mentor for young players.“I spoke to Stiliyan when he came in the other day,” he said. “You tend to forget about what’s happened to him.“I think seeing him puts everything into perspective. That’s a guy I played football with for about eight or nine years or so.“I have seen him grow up as a young guy. The first day I ever saw him train at Celtic, I thought ‘Jesus Christ – what have we signed’?“He was hitting shots from about 80 yards. He looked like the Nutty Professor, he was huge.“He lost about nine stone and became a footballer. Then he became brilliant for Celtic.“He’s one of the fittest I’ve ever seen. He used to train before he actually trained with us.”Lambert was speaking ahead of Sunday’s charity match in honour of Petrov at Halesowen Town.A selection of Villa Old Stars will take on a fans’ team made up of Petrov’s friends, with the Bulgarian’s former claret and blue team-mates Gareth Barry and James Milner expected to be in attendance to watch the match.Kick off is at 1.30pm with admission on the gate priced at £5 adults and £2.50 children. Proceeds will go Leukaemia and Lymphoma Research.“I think it’s a great cause,” Lambert added.“Hopefully if it raises money then that will be great. It’s great if Gareth Barry and James Milner come back. That just speaks volumes for it.”
Even if he doesn't play for us again, I'd like to see him kick off the final (hopefully meaningless) home game of the season before being substituted to a standing ovation.
I didn't expect to see him play again, if he wants a role like that it'd be great.
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Topic: Petrov's future at Villa (Read 3881 times)
