March 15, 2009

North Queensland Fury FC marquee signing Robbie Fowler has dismissed suggestions he is aiming to captain the rookie outfit in their debut season of the A-League.

The England international, who played 26 games and scored seven goals for his country, said the captaincy would be decided by manager Ian Ferguson.

"In terms of me being captain it is not something I have thought about," Fowler said on his first day in Fury colours.

"The manager picks the captain and that is his job, I am not going to go up and ask him I want to be captain.

"He will see players on the training pitch then he will make that decision himself."

The man nicknamed God touched down before a rapturous crowd of Liverpool and Fury supporters at Townsville airport before being introduced to the media, rock star fashion, pool side at Jupiters Casino.

After agreeing to become the A-League's biggest signing in February the 33-year-old goal scoring whiz said he wasn't feeling any weight of expectation to perform.

"Not really, I am obviously quite grounded, I keep myself to myself and if I can do well, I do well, but more importantly it is about the team."

The Premier League veteran believes Ferguson has put together a strong squad for North Queensland's 2009-10 debut season but stopped short of making any finals predictions.

"The manager has put together a good squad and he knows what players he wants and he knows what the players can do so it should be an interesting time."

The star striker believed it would take time for the team to find rhythm but stressed he was intent on building a winning culture at the Fury.

"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.

"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."

Ferguson said Fowler would begin official pre-season training next month.

"Robbie is obviously doing a bit of work himself before he comes on board on the 1st of April, I am just looking forward to getting him on board, training with us and the boys are obviously looking forward to training with him."