Mark Schwarzer reveals the classy Gareth Southgate gesture that eased the pain of his Middlesbrough exit

The Australian stopper left the Riverside Stadium in 2008 and joined Premier League rivals Fulham on a free transfer – having spent 11 years on Teesside.

And while he initially found it hard to comprehend life away from Boro, Schwarzer has now explained how a fine gesture from then-manager Southgate helped him through.

I’d had numerous conversations with Gareth about it [leaving], we were friends then and we still are now,” he told talkSPORT.

“There’s absolutely zero animosity from me towards him, he’s someone I have the utmost respect for. It was very tough for him, too.

“He was brilliant through it all. He wrote me a letter, even though he could have easily picked up the phone and spoken to me. But he wrote me a handwritten letter, more than I can say I received from the club.

“They sent me a letter, which was typed out, three or four months later, which was very disappointing.”

So why did his spell with Boro come to an end?

“They thought that I was past it and my legs were gone,” explained the ‘keeper.

There were a whole lot of different things going on at the time, and Gareth wasn’t quite in control of a lot of things.

“They wanted to sign me on for another year, but they were kind of half-hearted about it.

“They weren’t really committed to it and kept giving a lot of excuses and reasons why they believed one year was all they were prepared to offer.

“I was like that’s fine I respect that, I know I can get longer elsewhere and it’s probably best for both of us to have a new challenge.

“I think everyone wanted a change, I’d been at the club for that long. I think the fans were happy for me to move on and I think I was ready to leave.”