Schwarzer Describes the Foreign Player Wave at Middlesbrough
Middlesbrough's signings of foreign players such as Ravanelli, Juninho, Emerson and Branco during the 1996 Premier League season brought a different atmosphere to English football. Australian goalkeeper Mark Schwarzer described the differences of that period and the communication problems.
In 1996, foreign players in the Premier League were still very unusual. Most clubs were made up of English and Irish players, with the occasional Scandinavian player here and there.
Middlesbrough's transfer of Italian star Fabrizio Ravanelli and Brazilians Juninho, Emerson and Branco attracted the attention not only of their own supporters but also of neutral observers.
The club's Australian goalkeeper at the time, Mark Schwarzer, admits that this situation created a culture shock. Schwarzer told FourFourTwo that he played with Ravanelli only in his first season and had no problems with him.
Schwarzer said that the demands and professionalism Ravanelli expected from his players were above the norms in England. He explained that this led to problems with some members of the squad, and that there was also a communication problem due to language. According to Schwarzer, these were two different football worlds, and English players were still trying to adapt to this change.
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