Australians in the English Premier League are becoming an endangered species, their presence in arguably the world’s top domestic league shrinking steadily in recent seasons.
Australia still boasts genuine Premier League stars in Tim Cahill and Mark Schwarzer but the number of Aussies earning first-team action in the England’s top tier has dwindled for the past five years.
Half a decade ago it was almost possible to assemble an entire team from Australians playing in the top flight. At most, five are likely to feature when the new season kicks off on Saturday (Sunday morning AEST).
Along with Everton star Cahill and sought-after shot-stopper Schwarzer, Blackburn duo Brett Emerton and Vince Grella are left to fly the Aussie flag this campaign.
Goalkeeper Brad Jones appeared poised to take that number to five by joining Liverpool, but would likely see little game time this season as an understudy to Pepe Reina.
Only five seasons ago the likes of Harry Kewell (Liverpool), Mark Viduka (Middlesbrough), Lucas Neill (Blackburn), Craig Moore (Newcastle) and Josip Skoko (Wigan) were also lacing up their boots for the 2006/2007 season.
Goalkeepers John Filan (Wigan) and Adam Federici (Reading) were also kicking around, giving the Australian contingent a genuine depth that’s lacking now.
With the likes of Schwarzer, Grella, Emerton and Cahill into their thirties and the absence of a new generation of Australian stars knocking on the door, Australia’s golden age in the Premier League could be drawing to a close.
A host of Australians are plying their trade in lesser leagues in Europe but few have signalled yet they could be the next to reach the heights of the current senior Socceroos.
While those fears have been echoed by many concerned about the future of the national team, some believe it’s only a matter of time before a new crop of Australians blossoms in English football.
Blackburn manager Sam Allardyce predicted during his side’s pre-season visit to Sydney recently that Australia would always prove a strong breeding ground for talent.
“Australian talent has been evident in England for a long time,” said Allardyce.
“The Australian players that have played in the Premier League, which is the top league in the world now, have proven they can be good enough.
“There is a good system of bringing younger players up, even though it’s not your No.1 sport.
“… If Australia continues to breed them as good as that, then lots of European clubs will try to get the players to come over, probably at a younger age.”
Only the likes of Tommy Oar (FC Utrecht) and – more recently, Nathan Burns (AEK Athens) – have generated genuine excitement recently that they could head a new generation of top-class Australian exports.
Veteran Emerton was notably impressed by Burns’ recent turnout for Athens at the Sydney Festival of Football.
“If we can get a few more like him coming through than we should be in good shape for the future,” Emerton said.
For Emerton and his Socceroos teammates who will kit up for the coming season, 2010/11 shapes as challenging on the back of the turbulent World Cup campaign.
Having spent the past four years putting plenty of their energies towards the World Cup in South Africa, Cahill, Schwarzer, Emerton and Grella can now turn their attention fully to club duties, albeit after a limited break from football.
“It sometimes can be difficult,” Emerton said.
“Obviously the World Cup, it’s such a high and it’s difficult to go away and not have as long a break as you would normally be used to and then back up for a long, hard Premier League season, which is what it will be once again.
“It’s never any different, so it’s going to be a tough year for all those players who participated in the World Cup.”
Emerton is eyeing a standout season with Rovers having returned to full form and fitness after a serious knee injury hampered his past two campaigns.
“It was a terrible setback but it’s taught me a lot about myself as a person and as a footballer as well and I think, it’s a blessing in disguise,” he said.
“I’ve had to do things which I’ve never had to as a footballer … spend time in the gym and make myself fitter and stronger and I feel better for it now.”
Emerton’s Blackburn teammate Grella is also aiming to stay free of injury problems that have plagued his stint in England, and prove his worth to Allardyce after he came close to joining Kewell and Neill at Turkish club Galatasaray just prior to the World Cup.
Schwarzer had been tipped for a long-anticipated move to Arsenal but that looks to have been quashed by the arrival of new Fulham manager Mark Hughes.
The 37-year-old had another outstanding season at Craven Cottage in 2009/10, helping them to 12th under Roy Hodgson and to a surprise appearance in the Europa League final.
Cahill, meanwhile, is hoping to fire again for Everton in a bid to erase the disappointment of his World Cup campaign, which was marred by his sending off in the opening 4-0 loss to Germany.
The 30-year-old, who signed a four-year contract extension with the Toffees prior to South Africa, hasn’t given up hope of leading Australia to Brazil 2014.
“My main focus is Everton now,” Cahill said.
“As long as I stay fit and keep playing consistently that is the most important thing and we will see where we are in four years.”
The new season looms as one of the most intriguing in recent years with big-spending Manchester City threatening to turn the “big four” of Chelsea, Manchester United, Arsenal and Liverpool into a “big five” and the likes of Tottenham and Everton also aiming to challenge towards the top.
HOW AUSTRALIA’S PRESENCE IN THE ENGLISH PREMIER LEAGUE HAS DWINDLED:
First-team Australians in the English Premier League in the past five years:
2010/2011
Tim Cahill (Everton)
Mark Schwarzer (Fulham)
Brett Emerton (Blackburn)
Vince Grella (Blackburn)
*Brad Jones (Liverpool)
2009/2010
Tim Cahill (Everton)
Mark Schwarzer (Fulham)
Brett Emerton (Blackburn)
Vince Grella (Blackburn)
Lucas Neill (Everton)
Richard Garcia (Hull City)
2008/2009
Tim Cahill (Everton)
Mark Schwarzer (Fulham)
Brett Emerton (Blackburn)
Vince Grella (Blackburn)
Lucas Neill (West Ham)
Richard Garcia (Hull City)
Brad Jones (Middlesbrough)
Mark Viduka (Newcastle)
2007/2008
Harry Kewell (Liverpool)
Tim Cahill (Everton)
Mark Schwarzer (Middlesbrough)
Brett Emerton (Blackburn)
Lucas Neill (West Ham)
Brad Jones (Middlesbrough)
Mark Viduka (Newcastle)
Mile Sterjovski (Derby County)
Josip Skoko (Wigan)
2006/2007
Harry Kewell (Liverpool)
Tim Cahill (Everton)
Mark Schwarzer (Middlesbrough)
Brett Emerton (Blackburn)
Lucas Neill (Blackburn/West Ham)
Brad Jones (Middlesbrough)
Mark Viduka (Middlesbrough)
Josip Skoko (Wigan)
John Filan (Wigan)
Adam Federici (Reading)
Craig Moore (Newcastle)
(*transfer to be confirmed)
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