Aston Villa skipper Stiliyan Petrov, who is currently sidelined because of acute leukaemia, has been voted by his colleagues as player of the year.

The Bulgarian international enjoyed a fine season before being diagnosed with the illness last month and is currently undergoing treatment.

Petrov did not attend the awards ceremony at Villa Park on Monday night but sent a video message.

He said: “Sorry I can’t be with you but I’ve got a little issue I need to fight.

“I hope you haven’t given me this award because of my situation. I thought I had a quite okay season!

“But I think we all deserve this award because we’ve worked so hard this season.”

Fellow midfielder Stephen Ireland was voted the supporters’ player of the year after finally showing the form which led to Villa signing him from Manchester City two years ago.

Ireland had been loaned to Newcastle last season after failing to impress the then manager Gerard Houllier but has enjoyed more first team involvement under current boss Alex McLeish.

Rookie striker Andreas Weimann, who scored vital goals against Fulham and Stoke, was named young player of the year.