To see Mark and the other Socceroos at the lunch...

The goalkeeper has penned a two-year deal with the Premier League club and will link up with fellow Aussie Adrian Leijer next season after ending more than a decade in Middlesbrough colours.

Schwarzer was reluctant to talk about the move at a Football Ambassadors Lunch in Sydney today but there is no doubt he is relieved to have ended the uncertainty.

He told the media: “I don’t really want to speak about it at this moment in time. It’s a very important game for us (against Ghana) on Friday night.”

The keeper did relent just enough on the subject though to express his delight that a deal had been signed, sealed and delivered so quickly.

He said: “It is one of those things that happens sometimes. I don’t think anyone can really say anything negative about my stay at Middlesbrough.

"I was very, very loyal to the club and I fulfilled every contract I had so there’s nothing really further to talk about."

He added: “I went throughout the rest of the season not knowing where my future lay.

"But as the season finished you’ve got more time to think and you do think about your future a bit more and at home you’ve got family who are concerned about the future as well.

“But I was always very confident that things would be sorted out. I had a few other options but I felt that this was the best one for me.”

Schwarzer had been granted permission to arrive late into camp by Pim Verbeek and he felt the delay was well worth it.

He said: “I said a couple of weeks ago that I always wanted to be available for this game and you can’t foresee what happens in the future. Unfortunately it got in the way but it’s sorted out now.

“I felt it was important to, once I got so far (in negotiations), it was important to sort it out sooner rather than later and to not affect any preparations for the qualifiers.”

Schwarzer leaves Middlesbrough after 11 years at the Riverside and his performances this season helped the club pull away from the drop zone.

He said: “I was reasonably happy with the way my season panned out.

"We had a very tough start to the season but we did very, very well from Christmas onwards. We had a couple of hiccups, including against Cardiff in the FA Cup.

"But in hindsight I think it was probably the best thing that happened to us because it gave us a real kick up the backside and from that point as a team we performed so much better and got the results we needed to stay in the league.”

Schwarzer is looking forward to a busy period of matches and is happy to see three other goalkeepers in Verbeek’s squad. He said: “I think it’s great.

"Obviously Pim’s new in the job, the other guys that haven’t been involved before, it’s a great opportunity for them (Adam Federici, Ante Covic and Michael Petkovic) to come in and show what they can do and stake a claim in a future squad.”

Quotes attributed to Schwarzer on Fulham’s official website said the player had ‘other offers from some great clubs throughout Europe’ and his new boss is certainly thrilled to have landed the player.

Fulham boss Roy Hodgson said: “After stiff competition from a number of high profile European clubs, I am exceptionally pleased that Mark has chosen to come to Fulham.

"His credentials on both the domestic and international arenas are impeccable which is reinforced by the calibre of clubs that wanted to sign him.

"We have some work to do off the field this summer to enable us to compete next season in the Premier League and to avoid the position we found ourselves in a short time ago.

To see Mark and the other Socceroos at the lunch...

"Therefore I am very pleased that Mark will be joining us and helping with the task ahead.”