Patrik Berger was loved and adored by thousands of fans across this country, he was known for his attacking prowess, his thunderous strikes and repertoire with the fans, that is, until he joined Aston Villa in the summer of 2005.
The Czech international enjoyed spells at Liverpool and Portsmouth before joining Villa. He had made almost 200 premier league appearances scoring 36 goals. Berger also had an impressive CV having won two League Cups, one FA Cup and one UEFA Cup. Aston Villa fans were right to be excited about having the Prague-born star on their team sheet.
However things became rocky from the start with numerous knee and muscle injuries Patrik Berger only managed a few games under David O’Leary and after O’Leary was sacked it all just went downhill from there. Martin O’Neill was brought in to change Villa’s luck however it was obvious Berger wasn’t part of his plans.
Having only played a few games of the 2006/07 season it was clear, Manager and player were not seeing eye to eye and after refusing to play for the reserves. The hot-headed Czech went out on loan to stoke making only 7 appearances for the Potters.
However after returning from the loan the feud between Berger and O’Neill seemed to have settled and a glimpse of hope emerged. On his return to the club Berger scored a crucial goal to help Aston Villa defeat Blackburn 2-1 on the 7th of April 2007 and continued to have a happy end to the season, so happy that he agreed to sign a 1 year contract extension.
Yet once again Berger’s season was plagued with injuries making only 8 substitute appearances, nonetheless there was one more incident that sealed Patrik Berger’s fate.
Gareth Barry was the captain of Aston Villa at the time and many clubs including Liverpool were interested in his signature. Berger (maybe innocently or maybe not) offered his advice suggesting Barry should move to Anfield. This infuriated Martin O’Neill and Patrik was released from the club after making only 29 appearances in 3 seasons.
He eventually flew home to join his boyhood club Sparta Prague but not before stirring the pot a bit more and telling the tabloids how O’Neill was not even strong enough to tell him he was being banned and released. This proving, not every story has a happy ending.
