Stan Petrov is in remission according to reports emerging this evening. 
Superb. Where you hear that Bandage?
The Secretary of the Ex Aston Villa Playersā Association announced it on Twitter! Apparently heās been one of the Villa employee types whoās been supporting the Petrov family etc and they asked him to make the announcement.
Ah Stan is a top top guy, this is great . A lot of modern day footballers could learn a lot from the great man.
Almost forgot, Paul Lambert said a month back that stan will continue to be club captain this season, and the 19th minute applause has been very well observed during all of preseason so far.
Best wishes to Stan.
Villa have released a statement officially confirming the positive news about Stan Petrov.
http://www.avfc.co.uk/page/NewsDetail/0,10265~2869478,00.html
A new interview with Stan has been put up on the official Villa website, he is thanking football fans worldwide for their well wishes. He looks better than he did a few months back but still fairly shook. He has finished the toughest part of his treatment and will be on tablet form for the next 2 years. Hopefully it all goes well for him. A model pro and an all round good guy.
+1
Interview with Celtic TV - heās coming along to the cup final in Hampden.
Petrovās retirement statement is typically classy. What a great guy.
http://www.avfc.co.uk/page/NewsDetail/0,10265~3172465,00.html
Statement by Villa club captain Stiliyan Petrov
Villa captain announces his retirement.
9th May 2013
Iāve never been a person for making grand statements. Iāve only ever got on with my job, while remaining grateful to have great team-mates, great people around me and, most of all, a fantastic family. They have been powerful pillars of support when I have needed them most over the past year. To my wife, Paulina, and my sons, Kristiyan and Stiliyan, I love you very much and I will always for your constant love and support. Also to my mum and dad, my brother and Paulinaās mum and the people who have been closest to me throughout this time - you know who you are and I love you all. Each and every day I thank God for giving me the opportunity to still be with my family.
Football has been the other great love of my life, so it is with a heavy heart that I am announcing my retirement from the game. The emotions are overwhelming really, but the continued support of family, friends and the great people I have come to know will make it easier for me to move on from the only life Iāve ever known.
That I am ready to embrace new challenges will make this process much easier. Since being diagnosed with acute leukaemia in March 2012, I have come to understand and appreciate the way in which this disease impacts the lives of so many people. I can help and I want to help and, in setting up a foundation to help address the issues involved when people are diagnosed with this illness, I hope to make a difference. This will be my new challenge, one I will face with all the enthusiasm, energy and drive with which I have faced every single challenge.
I remember when I was a young player at CSKA Sofia and the good life was all I was interested in. Celtic came in for me and I moved to Glasgow, to another country, to a new world. I didnāt speak the language and I thought it would never happen for me. I knew nobody.
Fortunately, I met people who helped me to turn my life around. I came to know great teammates who showed me the proper way, the way I had to be if I was going to be a serious professional and compete at a high level. I came to appreciate so much the opportunity to work with that level of professional people because it made me something like them. At Celtic Football Club and at Aston Villa Football Club I was privileged to live a life competing at a high level and playing the game I love, supported by the most passionate fans.
Then something crazy happened, something I thought was just a cold but turned out to be something more serious, something life-changing. I played 90 minutes for Villa against Arsenal at The Emirates and I felt fatigued, not myself at all. But I thought it was nothing serious. The diagnosis by Dr Richard Lovell was a complete shock.
Around 7,600 people in the UK are diagnosed each year with leukaemia and about 2,300 people with acute leukaemia. Fortunately, I was able to make decisions very quickly and I started my treatment quickly. I needed to. My leukaemia is now in remission and I have finished my high intensity treatment. From now on Iāll be on the softer treatment, which is two years on tablets. I feel lucky. Not everyone is as lucky as I have been.
For this I need to thank Professor David Linch at University College London Hospital, his PA Teresa Macdonald and all of the nurses and staff at that wonderful institution. Thank you also to Professor Charlie Craddock, Sandeep Nagra and all of the nurses who have looked after me at University Hospital and Queen Elizabeth Hospital in Birmingham.
For the life Iāve lived in football, I will always be incredibly grateful. For the opportunity this crazy thing that happened in my life has given me, I also feel grateful in a strange kind of way. This crazy thing, somehow, has touched people and I want to try to channel this in a positive way. This will be the greatest challenge of my life.
I wish to thank the fans of Aston Villa and the Villa chairman, Randy Lerner, chief executive Paul Faulkner and manager Paul Lambert, also the fans of Celtic, the Bulgarian fans and fans of football all over the world who have helped me through the past year with their incredible displays of support and with their personal, moving messages. I would also like to thank all of the managers I have worked under and all of the team-mates I have played alongside. I loved playing football with all of you and you will always remain in my heart. Also to the agents who represented me, including my current agents Base Soccer. I am moving on and I am excited by this. There is a deep joy in my heart because of what you have shared with me, not only in this past year but over the years I have been in football. I felt privileged. I still do. I always will.
What a fucking thoroughly alright sort.
Stan.
The time Bulgaria played us in Croke Park under Trapās first reign, he was the best player on the pitch. Probably doesnāt say much but that was the only time I saw him play in the flesh.
Yeah he was a class above that night. KIB Man often ran him down on here because he thought that was very funny because he came from Celtic but he was a very good player - lots of ability and when his head was right (and to be fair he acknowledged that wasnāt always the case) he had some engine too.
KIB man was regularly slaughtering him one particular season and I didnāt know any better because Iād only seen them play 3 or 4 times. But then I saw on SSN late on in that campaign that heād been awarded Fans and Players Player of the Year at the club. Now I know that Villa werenāt tremendous but he must have been doing something right.
Stan was a great legacy left to Celtic by the Barnes/Dalglish managerial team.
Paul Lambert on Petrov: āHeās alive and, as he said himself, thatās vital.ā
A perfectly apt description of him
Next Celtic manager.