Aston Villa captain Stiliyan Petrov believes the future of England is claret and blue

Jul 19 2010 by Mathew Kendrick, Sunday Mercury

Stiliyan Petrov

STILIYAN Petrov hopes England’s World Cup loss will be Aston Villa’s gain – but not until after the Three Lions’ next competitive match.

Petrov’s Bulgaria will be Fabio Capello’s flops’ opponents when they kick off their Euro 2012 qualifying campaign at the start of September.

From a personal point of view the Villa skipper would not be overly concerned if the England national team is still in disarray by then.

But he reckons Capello’s shamed World Cup last 16-losers could be given a new lease of life by an increased claret and blue contingent .

And despite Emile Heskey’s international retirement, Petrov expects to see a trio of Villa players joining James Milner and Stephen Warnock.

Petrov believes Gabby Agbonlahor, Ashley Young and Stewart Downing have a big part to play after missing the cut for South Africa.

“We knew all last year that Emile was going to quit England after the World Cup and let younger players have their chance,” he said.

“I have great admiration and respect for that.

“I think there are going to be quite a few of our players in the England squad and that’s good news for Villa and probably bad news for Bulgaria.

“I’m not the one to judge Capello’s decisions.

“He’s done a lot as a manager, but Ashley, Gabby and Stewart are talented players and I am sure they will get the chance to show what they can do.