Socceroos legend Mark Schwarzer opens up about the lie that ended his Premier League career
- Aussie Great played 366 games for Middlesborough
- He joined Leicester City from Chelsea in 2015
- Retired in 2016 after a great career
Socceroos legend Mark Schwarzer has recalled the brazen lie that ended his time in the Premier League on a sour note.
It was 2015 and Schwarzer had just secured a transfer from Jose Mourinho’s Chelsea to Leicester City.
Foxes manager Nigel Pearson promised the veteran shot-stopper he would be given a chance between the sticks as first-choice gloveman Kasper Schmeichel was injured.
“That’s why I made the decision to go to Leicester,” he said Optisport.
‘Unfortunately for me I was told a lie… I (eventually) confronted Nigel Pearson about it, which he wasn’t too happy about.
Socceroos legend Mark Schwarzer recalls the brazen lie that ended his time in the Premier League on a sour note (pictured, playing for Leicester against Manchester United)
Schwarzer joins the Foxes from Chelsea, where he was understudy to Petr Cech (left)
‘Two days before a game against Hull City at home I was told that if I played well I would keep my place.
‘We played well, drew 0-0 and I made a big one-on-one save at the end of the match (to earn a point).
‘Nigel (even) said I was playing well, but the next game I was dropped without anything being said to me.’
Schwarzer admits that he was seething at Pearson at the time and was “not the professional” he was proud of.
And even when Leicester – under new manager Claudio Ranieri – won the Premier League in fairytale fashion the following season, the Socceroos big players did not really feel involved in the celebrations.
Now a respected football expert, Schwarzer claims he was misled by then Leicester manager Nigel Pearson
“I’m not a Premier League winner,” he said.
‘Yes, I was at Chelsea and Leicester when they both won, but I wasn’t a central figure.
‘In my eyes I was in the front row (on the bench) for both titles.’
In a decorated career, Schwarzer played at two World Cups for Australia and is also a club legend at Middlesbrough, making 366 appearances between 1997 and 2008.
He remains a popular figure at Fulham following his five-year spell at the London club, having first emerged as a teenager for Marconi in the old National Soccer League from 1990.
Schwarzer is best known for his two penalty shootout saves against Uruguay in November 2005, which helped the Socceroos qualify for the World Cup in Germany the following year, ending 32 years of heartache for football fans.