Stan Petrov was an aggressive midfielder during his time with Celtic. However, the Bulgarian is a picture of calmness in retirement. His knowledge of the game makes him an excellent pundit having played successfully in Scotland and England before a fight with Cancer ended his career prematurely.
Ex-Celt Nicholas, who has often used his platform as a pundit to criticise the club, took aim at Petrov for doing the coverage of Celtic’s 4-3 Europa League defeat to Real Betis. The former Sky Sports man took to Twitter to question why he was involved, questioning his knowledge of the current team.
Why is Stiliyan Petrov doing the @CelticFC game??
He knows nothing about this new hoops team! They need to get someone who is in the know with Celtic nowadays, who can give good insight on this team.
— Charlie Nicholas (@CharNicholas10) September 16, 2021
Petrov refused to take the bait when speaking to The Celtic Way, instead offering a calm and measured approach.
“I respect everyone, if I ended up like that I wouldn’t be true to myself.”
It could be construed as a dig back at Nicholas but Petrov doesn’t seem like the type to engage in petty spats, especially online. It likely shows how out of the loop Nicholas is as the reason that Petrov was drafted in was due to Rangers refusing entry for Neil Lennon and Chris Sutton to Ibrox. This resulted in the broadcasters having to scramble a presenting team in London to show the match.
