"At the start, it was just a cold.It never crossed my mind that it could be cancer"

The Bulgarian powerhouse takes FFT on a journey from Celtic's winners to Villa's nearly men, his leukaemia and recovery

- By Sean Cole

How did your 1999 move from CSKA Sofia to Celtic, when you were 20, come about?

At the end of the season with CSKA, I played really well in an international match against England which we [Bulgaria] drew 1-1. Celtic enquired about me and the negotiations went very quickly. My phone wasn’t working, so the club couldn’t find me – they had to call friends and send a driver to pick me up. People were rushing about, because it was a big fee for the club [around £2.8 million], but I wanted to wait until I’d finished my holiday. I went back to Sofia with a change of clothes and flew to Scotland the next day. Young Stan was on his way!

Why didn’t things work out at Celtic for John Barnes, the man who signed you?

I couldn’t understand much of what was going on, due to the language barrier, but there was always fighting. I could see little cliques and problems. He couldn’t control the dressing room as there were some very powerful characters. It was John’s first job since retiring as a player, and a big one for him. The team was winning, but we had many internal issues. The players weren’t giving everything for him. Sometimes a job can come a bit too early for someone, but that doesn’t mean they’re a bad manager.

How did Martin O’Neill turn it around so fast, winning a treble in his first season?