Former Celtic star admits he ‘celebrated’ John Barnes’ Parkhead departure
Stiliyan Petrov has revealed how Martin O’Neill helped transform his fortunes at Celtic after admitting he had been “celebrating” John Barnes’ departure from the club.
The Bulgarian would eventually become a Celtic great, making more than 300 appearances and winning ten trophies during seven years in Glasgow.
However, Petrov’s Parkhead career could have turned out very differently. He struggled badly during his first season following his arrival in 1999, while his infamous £300-a-week contract has since been attributed to what he described as a “dodgy agent”.
Reflecting on All Out Football, Petrov said: “Listen, at that time, the money wasn’t important for me. I was naive to move. It wasn’t about the money for me. It was never about the money.
“Listen, I could have left Celtic, I could have left Villa for a lot more money in different destinations. It was never about the money. It was about what you want to leave behind you. I’ve played for two great clubs. I’ve played with some incredible players and I won’t change it.”
Petrov endured a particularly difficult time under Barnes and admitted the language barrier left him isolated within the Celtic dressing room.
He continued on Barnes: “I was celebrating John Barnes being sacked because I wasn’t playing. I had a really difficult time. John never really put in any effort to help. I had a really difficult time for the first six months. Forget about bill issues, financial issues, forget about that.
“But the language barrier was a big problem for me because the dressing room was pushing me away. I wasn’t talking to anyone. I wasn’t communicating.
“Go to training, get changed, train back home. That was me for six months. I was trying, I was thinking how can I fit in? But you know, when you’re not in a conversation, when you don’t know the people’s problem, and I could see they were pushing me away.
“But then the change happened. John Barnes got sacked and Martin took over. He gave me six weeks to get fit and show him that I can play on that team. I had a really good pre-season and had to lose 10 kilos as well. That was a lot in the pre-season. All that not eating and training twice a day.”
O’Neill was impressed enough to make Petrov a major part of his Celtic side – and also took it upon himself to address the midfielder’s remarkably low salary.
On how O’Neill dealt with his contract, Petrov continued: “He was happy with the pre-season, with everything I’ve done, he called me, and he went, ‘I’ve looked at your contract. I’m giving you more money.’
“So I try to explain about the agent. He said, ‘Forget about the agent. Forget about the agent. This I will offer you; are you happy [with it]?’ So I went from £300-a-week to £2,500-a-week.”
