ROBBIE FOWLER is unveiled as a Cardiff City player today, but the superstar striker could be in for a rude awakening when he joins up with his new team-mates. For no-nonsense Bluebirds captain Darren Purse says the Liverpool legend will be treated as "just another one of the lads" in the City dressing room.
Fowler yesterday completed a medical in South Wales before signing on the dotted line of a two-year deal at Ninian Park, which makes the 32-year-old ex-England striker the highest paid player in the club's history. Fowler was immediately handed the Cardiff No 8 shirt recently vacated by last season's top scorer Michael Chopra, who moved to Sunderland for ?5m two weeks ago.
But Purse, who himself signed a new contract this summer at City, said despite all the razzmatazz, Fowler was there to do the same job as the rest of the Cardiff squad - to mount a serious Premiership promotion push.
"Robbie is a fantastic player, he has done it at the very top level and he'll get a warm welcome from the lads I'm sure," said 30-year-old Purse. "Off-the-pitch he'll get a lot of attention, it is a big thing for the fans of Cardiff and must be the biggest signing in the club's modern history.
"But when we get in the dressing room, there is no place for star strikers or whatever and players like Robbie, despite all they've achieved, would never want that kind of treatment. He'll be joining a group of players who have one thing on their mind and that is pushing the club up into the Premiership where all of us want to be.
"Obviously we'll be looking to him for the goals to help the cause and when it comes to that his record speaks for itself. He's phenomenal. But Robbie will just be one of the lads with us, we'll all go out for a drink together and get to know each other. We all want to bond as a squad, that's important."
Fowler, who won 26 England caps and scored seven goals for his country, has a remarkable career goal-scoring record, grabbing 224 goals in little more than 400 starts. Centre-half Purse has first hand knowledge of how tricky an opponent Fowler can be having played against him on several occasions.
The most notable was the 2001 League Cup final at the Millennium Stadium - the first cup final played in Cardiff - when Fowler opened the scoring for Liverpool with a long-range cracker, only to see Purse slot home a last-minute penalty for Birmingham to force extra-time. The Reds went on to lift the trophy after winning the ensuing penalty shootout.
Purse admitted Fowler was a nightmare to mark and warned Championship defences this season would need to be at their best to cope with him.
"He's the type of striker that you are convinced you know where he is, but the next minute you turn around and he's put the ball in the back of the net," said Purse. "I think he'll be a lot like Michael Chopra, maybe not as lively, but the intelligent runs will be there, the excellent reading of the game. It's up to us to get the ball to him and I'm sure Robbie is more than capable of doing the rest. The teams we face this season are going to have to be fully concentrated for the whole 90 minutes if they're going to keep him quiet, that's for sure."
And Purse firmly disagreed with critics who maintain, at 32, that Fowler is now past his best.
"In the modern-game players take extremely good care of themselves and I'm sure Robbie's been like that," said Purse. "Nowadays there's advanced training and treatments, everything has moved on, right down to the correct nutrition. There's plenty of examples of players coming down from the Premier League and being very successful. Look at someone like Teddy Sheringham, he's been playing up until he's 40, things are different nowadays if you've done things in the right way."
Purse admitted any reservations he had felt about the club's attempts to sign Fowler had now been replaced by the excitement of playing in the same team as the striker. Purse was one of the few people to express concerns about the financial implications of bringing Fowler to Ninian Park on a big-money deal.
"All I said at the time was that the club was financially stable now and it would be unwise to upset that situation to bring in just one player," added Purse. "I believe that, but I'm sure the chairman Peter Ridsdale and gaffer Dave Jones know what they are doing. The whole thing has been done in the correct way. It's exciting for everyone to welcome a player of Robbie's calibre. I know he'll become a hero down here with the supporters right from the start."
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