Villa blogger Dave Bytheway pays homage to retiring defender Martin Laursen ahead of the final game of the Premier League season.

A monumental decision by arguably the most comparable defender since Paul McGrath happened this week, with club captain Martin Laursen announcing his retirement.

The void he leaves will be extremely hard to replace, short and long term, leaving us in a poaition where we urgently need to set up a quality world class replacement.

Laursen was signed by previous manager David O’Leary and was possibly the best thing he ever did for the club.

He has had more than his fair share of injuries over his time here, but once he went over to America to have operations and reconstruction carried out by the specialists, he became a near ever present for manager Martin O’Neill.

Laursen was starting to prove what a player he was and the £3million we paid to AC Milan looked an absolute bargain.

He repaid the loyalty the club had shown him, by signing another contract when a lucrative free transfer was available.

The Danish international went on to become a great asset to us, both in defence and attack, always on the end of corners and free kicks.

He played a major part in the first half of this season, taking over the captaincy from Gareth Barry and playing like a true leader, a real Villa man.

We were cruising towards the coverted fourth spot when his knee took a turn for the worse and he missed several games.

Like a true Villan, there was no way he would miss the home derby against the Albion, and played even though clearly not totally right.

This was to spell the end for him unfortunatel, and on 15 May 2009, a true Villa great had to admit defeat for the sake of his long term health.

For your true honour and loyalty, as well as immense performances in the number five shirt, Martin Laursen we thank you.

On the back of that sad news, something a lot brighter, in the news that Stiliyan ‘Stan’ Petrov has signed a new four year contract.

There was paper talk suggesting he may be moving on with midfielder Gareth Barry – who for the record I expect Petrov to replace as captain next season – but he claimed there was never any doubt before penning the new deal.

We look forward to another few seasons of the classy midfield performances of late.

The last game of the season is on Sunday and we welcome the Geordies of Newcastle to Villa Park. This is a must win game for both, and for massively different reasons.

For us, if we better the result of Everton, we finish fifth and enter the Europa League a stage later, and also finishing higher than last year means a growing improvement.

Newcastle have a lot more at stake, as a Villa win would condemn them to the Championship, something no football fan would have contemplated at the start of the season.

It will prove to be an electric atmosphere with the game already a total sell out, hopefully a good free scoring end to the season. I’ll put my neck out and predict a 4-1 Villa win.

Have a good weekend, and a big welcome back to the Premier League next season for Wolves and Birmingham.

We look forward to a few local derbies, and hopefully a few beers together along the way.

Up the Villa!