Vaclav Drobny

[SoccerHQ]

Blimey, was he still playing or had he retired?

Sad stuff, can't remember him ever playing but pretty sure he made the bench for a game or two when he had a defensive injury crisis.

[PeterWithesShin]

Villa are saddened to hear of the sudden death of former playerVaclav Drobny.

Drobny, 32, signed a season-long loan at Villa in August 2004 from Racing Strasbourg.

He played in the opening four friendlies of that campaign, the 6-0 win over Klungshams, the 7-2 win over Kungsbacka, the 3-0 defeat of Jonkoping Sodra and the 0-0 draw with Orgryte.

The Czech Republic international had impressed then boss David O'Leary in a trial before heading off to Sweden for the pre-season games.

He said at the time: "This is the biggest opportunity of my footballcareer.

"It has always been a dream to play in England and when I was young I always wanted to play here in the Premier League. To be given a chance at a big club like Aston Villa is amazing."

Unfortunately, he never quite fitted into the manager's plans and failed to make a senior competitive appearance for the club, although he played 24 times for the reserves in their second-place finish in the league.

He then moved to Sparta Prague with whom he won the Czech league title in 2007 before switching to play in a Prague regional division.

Drobny tragically died this morning in a sledding accident.

He skidded off a piste and crashed into a tree in the Czech winter resort of Spindleruv Mlyn, some 140 kilometres north-east of Prague.

Our thoughts are with his family at this very sad time.

[hilts_coolerking]

I remember the name very well but never saw him play.  Very sorry to hear of his passing, in what sounds like a tragic accident.

[Summers]

Oh that's horrible news.

[Andy_Lochhead_in_the_air]

http://www.avfc.co.uk/page/NewsDetail/0,,10265~3021022,00.html

[PeterWithe]

Sad news. Strange signing, he seemed to be very highly rated but I didn't see him play once.

[geeeenius1971]

puts the last 2 games into perspective really

[PaulTheVillan]

Sure that's not a young Petrov?

RIP. Always a shame to hear of a young death, regardless if he played for us or not.

[olaftab]

We use word tragedy too readily in unnecessary circumstances. This is a real tragedy. Being the age he was I have a horrible feeling that there are very young lives affected by this.  If so I wish them all the best in the world.

[N'ZMAV]

[Lambert and Payne]

Jesus, RIP Vaclav. No age to go

[Irish villain]

Very sad news. So young. Rest in peace.

[onje_villa]

RIP. Tragic news.

[The Left Side]

RIP

[Mortimer's Bear]

Thoughts are with his family.