Mark Schwarzer says Fulham must not rest on their laurels ahead of the new season and has urged his team-mates to ensure the club’s recent success continues.
Fulham have twice finished in the top half of the Premier League in the last three seasons and reached the final of the Europa League in 2010. That marks a very different position from the one at which Schwarzer joined the club, when Fulham had just managed to starve off the threat of relegation in 2008.
We’ve just got to keep backing up what we’ve been doing over the last few years. The last three seasons have been – for Fulham Football Club and a lot of us personally – fantastic.
It’s possibly been the best three years in a lot of our careers. We need to continue that run. We believe that we belong in the top half of the Premier League and we like to think that we can mix it in Europe every couple of seasons.
The expectation levels are always higher. When I first came here, the club had just avoided relegation with 15 minutes to spare so anything above that was a bonus.
To then finish seventh, then have such a great run in Europe and finish eighth last year means the expectations are there. We, as players, acknowledge that and we know that we need to live up to them.
So far it’s been a great challenge. If you look at the history of the club and how much has been accomplished, particularly in the last three years – it’s been outstanding
Schwarzer credits Fulham chairman Mohamed Al Fayed for much of the club’s rise.
The chairman’s been 100 percent supportive and the club wouldn’t exist in the position it is now without the support of the chairman. He’s always been there and he’s always been rock-solid for the club. He’s always looked to progress. In the years that I’ve been here, I’ve seen a lot of progression.
It is truly remarkable to see where Fulham are on the English and European stage given how close the club were to dropping out of the professional ranks altogether during the dark days of the early 1990s. Schwarzer’s ambition and enthusiasm clearly remains – let’s hope it proves infectious.
