Stiliyan Petrov says fans were right to boo him early into his Aston Villa career.

Petrov said: "To be honest, the fans were right with their reaction towards me. I was a big signing, I cost a lot of money, and they expect a lot from you. If I don't produce then of course they will be on my back.

"The manager left me out of the side for six or seven games last season but I knew I wasn't doing well. The manager did the right thing. Nigel Reo-Coker and Gareth Barry were both playing well.

"But in every training session I tried to give them as much competition as possible. It takes some players longer than others to settle in but you've seen me every day and I've never given up. I know what I can do and what I can produce and finally I started showing it.

"It's your job and you have to keep working to put it right. It's great to hear the fans singing my name a year later and that they appreciate what you can do. I just hope I can get better and better. That's why I moved to the Premier League, to improve, and I feel like I am doing that.

"I knew it was going to be hard and there were things I had to improve in my game, like my strength and my sprinting, and I've been working on all that sort of stuff and, finally, it's starting to pay off."