Vitālijs Astafjevs (born April 3, 1971 in Riga) is one of Latvian football’s greatest players who bafflingly spent the apex of his career at Bristol Rovers. When Latvia captain Astafjevs signed for Bristol Rovers a few eyebrows were raised, but most people assumed it was a stepping-stone to the upper echelons of the English game. Instead it proved to be a four-year period of having the shit kicked out of him by no-nonsense lower league hatchet men and plummeting towards semi-pro status while being hollered at by an incomprehensible gaggle of slack-jawed yokels.
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| - Vitālijs Astafjevs (born April 3, 1971 in Riga) is one of Latvian football’s greatest players who bafflingly spent the apex of his career at Bristol Rovers. When Latvia captain Astafjevs signed for Bristol Rovers a few eyebrows were raised, but most people assumed it was a stepping-stone to the upper echelons of the English game. Instead it proved to be a four-year period of having the shit kicked out of him by no-nonsense lower league hatchet men and plummeting towards semi-pro status while being hollered at by an incomprehensible gaggle of slack-jawed yokels.
- Vitālijs Astafjevs joined Rovers in 2000 from his home town club Skonto FC for a fee of £150,000. During his time at the club he made just under 100 league apperances but left the club in 2003 after deciding another season in Division Three (now League Two) would be detrimental to his international ambitions. He retired from playing at the end of the 2010 Latvian football season and was given the job as Skonto's assistant manager. He ended his career as the most capped player to date in European football, having made 167 appearances for Latvia.
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| - Vitālijs Astafjevs (born April 3, 1971 in Riga) is one of Latvian football’s greatest players who bafflingly spent the apex of his career at Bristol Rovers. When Latvia captain Astafjevs signed for Bristol Rovers a few eyebrows were raised, but most people assumed it was a stepping-stone to the upper echelons of the English game. Instead it proved to be a four-year period of having the shit kicked out of him by no-nonsense lower league hatchet men and plummeting towards semi-pro status while being hollered at by an incomprehensible gaggle of slack-jawed yokels. ‘I am fluent in English, but I never understand a word anyone says to me,’ Astafjevs admitted in an interview. ‘The gaffer is the worst – he is a strange skeletal man with an agricultural accent and an oddball sense of humour.’ That man was Ian Holloway, who had taken time out from writing down his whimsical thoughts to sign Astafjevs, who he labelled ‘better than a posh wank in my mother-in-law’s shed.’ While Rovers failed to impress, Astafjevs lit up League One and League Two. Sadly that made him a target for less gifted professionals and on one memorable occasion Oldham’s defence responded to his early goal by showing some professionalism and experience, nearly killing the Riga native with a succession of savage attacks. In the end Astafjevs quite rightly got the hell out of Bristol and signed for Austrian side Admira Wacker.
- Vitālijs Astafjevs joined Rovers in 2000 from his home town club Skonto FC for a fee of £150,000. During his time at the club he made just under 100 league apperances but left the club in 2003 after deciding another season in Division Three (now League Two) would be detrimental to his international ambitions. Prior to his time at Rovers, Astafjevs had played for FK Daugava Rīga and Skonto FC in his native Latvia and FK Austria Wien in Austria. Since his time with Rovers, he's played for VfB Admira Wacker Mödling in Austria, FC Rubin Kazan in Russia before returning to FC Skonto in Latvia. After brief spells with Latvian top-flight sides JFK Olimps and Ventspils in 2009, he returned to Skonto in 2010. He retired from playing at the end of the 2010 Latvian football season and was given the job as Skonto's assistant manager. He ended his career as the most capped player to date in European football, having made 167 appearances for Latvia.
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