Bryan Robson recruited custodian Mark Schwarzer from Bradford City in 1997, and what the Australian international accomplished on Teesside over the next 11 years would cement his position as one of Boro’s finest ever players, as well as pieces of business.
Schwarzer, who signed as a 23-year-old for a sum believed to be worth £1.3 million, came to the North East as a somewhat unknown quantity, having only completed one season in English football with then-second-tier team Bradford.
Making the step-up to the Premier League with Middlesbrough would be a significant step for the teenage shot-stopper, but it wouldn’t be long before Boro fans understood they’d discovered a hidden treasure.
So, when it came time for him to say goodbye in 2008, there was concern among the crowd that the club would struggle to recruit someone of his calibre again, and in truth, they never did.
Some players are given time to adjust to their new surroundings, while others are plunged into the deep end. For Schwarzer at Middlesbrough, it was undoubtedly the latter.
With Gary Walsh and Ben Roberts alternating between the posts, Boro needed a consistent pair of hands between the sticks to provide Robson with a custodian he could confidently declare his number one.
In February 1997, the same month he signed with the club, Robson gave his new signing the starting spot in the League Cup semi-final first leg against Stockport County. Schwarzer would preserve a clean sheet as Boro won the game 2-0.
He’d passed his first test with flying colours, and he’d be called up again for the League Cup final against Leicester City, which concluded in a replay – as was customary at the time – when a last-minute Emile Heskey goal in extra time tied the game at 1-1.
Following that game, Schwarzer suffered an injury and was unable to play in the rematch, which Boro lost 1-0. Middlesbrough were also demoted from the Premier League that season after a contentious points deduction.
The following season, 1997/98, saw Boro’s Australian firmly establish himself as the number one custodian, as Middlesbrough made an immediate return to the Premier League.
