guardian.co.uk, Sunday 15 March 2009 11.32 GMT
• Striker meets media at poolside press conference
• New manager promises to ease him into Australian football
The former Liverpool and England striker Robbie Fowler has arrived in Australia to begin a two-year deal with North Queensland Fury in Australia and hopes the team, playing their first season in the A-League, will start winning straight away to increase the players' confidence.
"This is a brand new team and until all the players get together and we train day in, day out ... we will play a few games before the season we will see how it goes from that aspect," Fowler said at a poolside press conference in Townsville. "In terms of any football club you want to continue to win games. If you are winning games that breeds confidence and confidence helps you to do well in everything."
The 33-year-old Fowler, whose three-month contract with Blackburn Rovers expired in December, is one of the leading scorers in English top-flight football and the highest-profile former Premier League star to join the A-League.
Fowler plans to move his family to Townsville although a team official said that Fowler's wife and his children will not arrive until a later date, which is likely to be within a month. Pre-season training starts on 1 April with the league programme getting under way in August.
Fowler has not played since December and there were some concerns about a recurring hip problem but Fury's manager, the former Rangers midfielder Ian Ferguson, has no doubt Fowler will be ready to commit to full-scale preparation. "We had extensive medical tests done on Robbie prior to his signing and he'll start training with the rest of the squad on 1 April," Ferguson said. "Because of the heat and humidity we will ease him into the physical work with three days a week for the first month."
Fowler joined Liverpool straight out of school and remained with the club from 1993 until 2001, scoring 120 Premier League goals. He had stints at Leeds United and Manchester City before returning to Liverpool in 2006 and more recently, had brief spells at Cardiff City and Blackburn. He made 26 appearance for England, scoring seven goals.
Fowler said today he has no plans to seek the club captaincy. "It is not something I have thought about," he said. "The manager picks the captain and that is his job. I am not going to go up and ask him to be captain. He will see players on the training pitch then he will make that decision himself."
• Striker meets media at poolside press conference
• New manager promises to ease him into Australian football
The former Liverpool and England striker Robbie Fowler has arrived in Australia to begin a two-year deal with North Queensland Fury in Australia and hopes the team, playing their first season in the A-League, will start winning straight away to increase the players' confidence.
"This is a brand new team and until all the players get together and we train day in, day out ... we will play a few games before the season we will see how it goes from that aspect," Fowler said at a poolside press conference in Townsville. "In terms of any football club you want to continue to win games. If you are winning games that breeds confidence and confidence helps you to do well in everything."
The 33-year-old Fowler, whose three-month contract with Blackburn Rovers expired in December, is one of the leading scorers in English top-flight football and the highest-profile former Premier League star to join the A-League.
Fowler plans to move his family to Townsville although a team official said that Fowler's wife and his children will not arrive until a later date, which is likely to be within a month. Pre-season training starts on 1 April with the league programme getting under way in August.
Fowler has not played since December and there were some concerns about a recurring hip problem but Fury's manager, the former Rangers midfielder Ian Ferguson, has no doubt Fowler will be ready to commit to full-scale preparation. "We had extensive medical tests done on Robbie prior to his signing and he'll start training with the rest of the squad on 1 April," Ferguson said. "Because of the heat and humidity we will ease him into the physical work with three days a week for the first month."
Fowler joined Liverpool straight out of school and remained with the club from 1993 until 2001, scoring 120 Premier League goals. He had stints at Leeds United and Manchester City before returning to Liverpool in 2006 and more recently, had brief spells at Cardiff City and Blackburn. He made 26 appearance for England, scoring seven goals.
Fowler said today he has no plans to seek the club captaincy. "It is not something I have thought about," he said. "The manager picks the captain and that is his job. I am not going to go up and ask him to be captain. He will see players on the training pitch then he will make that decision himself."
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