Elijah Chua

Neil Etheridge raised eyebrows when he opted to represent the Philippines at international level, despite having won youth caps for England. The young goalkeeper quickly excelled with the Asian nation, while he has also continued his development at Premier League side Fulham, a club he joined after a youth stint at Chelsea.

What does the future hold for Etheridge? What is life like at a Premier League club, and especially one just taken over by a billionaire? We went to speak to the goalkeeper.

Inside Futbol (IF): Neil, you won youth caps with England, but then you were suddenly called up by the Philippines. What was your motivation behind eventually joining the Philippines national team?

Neil Etheridge (NE): I think it’s definitely the development of football in the country. When I came out to the Philippines for the first time, it was a very different experience. I thought the Philippines had got a lot of attention, they’ve grown, and they’ve shown in the last five years how they’ve evolved. It’s great to be a part of that, it’s great to be a part of the development of football in the country and the national team.

IF: You were in the youth team at Chelsea, but then you made a move to Fulham; they are London rivals. Was there a hard transition? The two teams are rivals after all.

NE: I was a goalkeeper at Chelsea, and now I’m a goalkeeper at Fulham. At that time, there were a lot of clubs interested and I was part of the England set-up at that stage of my career. But to be honest, I joined Fulham because I saw the light at the end of the tunnel, you know? I can see myself playing there. Their set-up was great, their academy was great, so I thought it was the right decision to make the move to Fulham regardless of the rivalry and now it seems to have paid off.

IF: What have you noticed when it comes to the difference in standards when you’re with Fulham and with the Philippines set-up? 

NE: It’s really hard to compare to be honest. There’s not much of a comparison. Fulham are a Premier League club with multi-million pounds to spend on players, which they do, and no matter what nationality or culture they come from. But in the Philippines obviously you have to be Filipino to play for the national team, so that does limit your options and we are still looking for the best players out there that we can use to strengthen our squad. The training is great, the boys are great. The Philippines are definitely playing football that’s developing quite rapidly and maybe if we could get two new faces in the team it would be fantastic to help us grow and continue in the direction we’re heading at the moment.
 

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IF: Regarding Fulham, the club have just had a new owner, Shahid Khan. Have you seen any differences with how Fulham are running things now?

NE: The chairman, at the moment, hasn’t made much difference, but that’s because he’s just joined the club this summer. We’re not even six months into the season yet. At the moment he’s yet to stamp his authority down, but I know he has high expectations and I know, like all chairmen, he wants the best for his team. I believe fully there will be some changes. I know they want to extend the stadium and improve the training ground. But it’s still early stages.

IF: One of the changes that happened at Craven Cottage, though, was the removal of the Michael Jackson statue. What do you think about that?

NE: I think I’ve only seen it two or three times to be honest and it was something the old chairman felt strongly about. Obviously it was very close to him to put it into the stadium. For the players, it didn’t make a difference, really, on what happens on the training field or what happens in matchdays, so it wasn’t exactly a big deal if it was there or not.
 

IF: On the serious side of things, Fulham aren’t exactly doing well in the Premier League so far. And the pressure on manager Martin Jol has increased. Has there been a change in motivation now in the squad, somehow to do better?

NE: We go out in every game and we do our best. But we’ve recently had some unfortunate results in the later stages of the games this season. I know we have the quality in our squad to do better though. We’ve only had seven games in the season, so it’s still very early and there’s no reason to panic. I believe we have the strength in the team to clinch a strong finish.

IF: Fulham, for their part, have had their share of iconic goalkeepers, one of them being Edwin van der Sar. But who was your inspiration as a goalkeeper?

NE: Unfortunately, I’ve never trained with Edwin, but from what I heard he was a great goalkeeper. His move to Manchester United was most probably no real surprise to anyone because he was such a good goalkeeper and he was the Dutch number one at the time. However, working with Mark Schwarzer for such a long period of time showed me what a professional footballer was all about. The guy is very disciplined and has been good at training. He’s working hard and he’s definitely someone I’m inspired to be like.

IF: But Schwarzer is no longer at Fulham, right? Now you have the goalkeeper you signed from Roma, Maarten Stekelenburg. What do you think of him?

NE: He’s a different style of goalkeeper as what I’m used to do and he’s certainly showed me a different style of goalkeeping. He’s a great goalkeeper, there’s no doubt about it. You just have to look at his career, the games he’s played in, the teams he’s been in to see that he’s a fantastic goalkeeper. Unfortunately he got injured at the start of the season, but I’m sure he will come back and he will be wearing the number one shirt in a game sooner or later, even if David Stockdale’s done well since having the opportunity to start. As for me, it’s about keeping my head down, working hard and concentrating on myself.

IF: With regards to your career as it stands with Fulham, would you rather see yourself go on another loan spell, seeing as you’ve had a few successful ones including the one at Bristol Rovers, where you impressed, or would you prefer to continue your development with the club?

NE: At the moment, I’m contracted at Fulham and I’m needed on the bench for the club, so my duty lies there. But hopefully throughout the season I could have a chance to go out on loan, so I could show everyone what I can do, as I did at Bristol Rovers. We’ll just have to see how the season falls down. Hopefully, yes, I’d like to go out on loan and play regular first-team football.

IF: How about the Philippines' domestic football then? Is there a chance in the future you might want to play for one of the local clubs in the Philippines?

NE: Obviously I’ve got plenty of friends playing for the local clubs. But for me, the English Premier League is something I want to play in for the rest of my career. It may or may not happen, but I want to play at the highest level as much as possible in my career and I believe I have the ability to do so.

IF: Arguably, Fulham’s biggest piece of transfer business in the last two years has been the arrival of Dmitar Berbatov, and he was brought in for a bargain price, too. What are your thoughts on him?

NE: Of course, he’s a fantastic player. He’s played for fantastic clubs and he’s one of a kind to be honest. He’s a great player, a great finisher, a great goalscorer. People sometimes have their moments that they struggle to score goals, but we have the quality in the squad especially with Dmitar there. I’m sure we have the ability to score goals and hopefully in the coming weeks we’ll click and there will be change in the league table.

IF: He’s having quite a rough patch, though, at the moment. Do you think he can bounce back and get himself back to goalscoring form?

NE: Of course. He was arguably one of the best Premier League players at one stage so there’s no doubt about it that he has the ability to bounce back. Knowing him personally, he’s a great guy and a great player, there’s no doubt about it. He’s got the quality to step his game up even more and produce great finishes like he did last season.

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Photos courtesy: AFF Suzuki Cup, Al Jazeera