Aston Villa Football Club News

• Nickname:The Villains
• Founded:1874
• Manager:Alex McLeish

• Ground:Villa Park
• Capacity:42,584

Houllier leaves Petrov as Villa captain

30 Sep 2010 - 09:38:05

Click To Enlarge

New manager Gerard Houllier has confirmed that Stiliyan Petrov will retain the Aston Villa captaincy.

Petrov, who succeeded Gareth Barry as skipper last season, will be part of a leadership team preferred by Houllier but will keep hold of the armband.

"I won't change captain," explained Houllier. "The captain is not only the leader on the field. He is a leader by example.

"He knows what we want to do anyway. I prefer to rely on a group of leaders, two or three players - not only one person.

"One can be the technical leader, one can be the energiser, one can be the captain."

Petrov has made over 130 appearances for Villa since joining the Midlands club from Celtic in 2006.