Not since Dwight Yorke have we had a player of such calibre grace the competition; A player who will get the turnstiles ticking over; A player with a chequered history, no doubt.

Despite his indiscretions, this guy is the fourth-highest goalscorer in the history of the Premier League (120 goals) - Scowsers still refer to him simply as ‘God’, and still at the relatively young (as far as marquee imports go) age of 33, he has the potential to deliver big time.

Pic via Tenacious T

With crowd averages dropping back to season two levels in this fourth season, the FFA has been banking on the addition of the Fury and the Gold Coast to inject some more variety into the fledgeling competition. They will be over the moon with this signing, following on the heels of Gold Coast’s Jason Culina signing a few weeks ago.

It’s easy to see why. If you are a Liverpool fan over the age of 20....hell, if you are a football fan period, you’ll put your backside on a seat when the North Queensland Fury rolls into your town. Players like Fowler are the guys we grew up, or grew old watching, and they are coming to a town near you.

I’ve written about the tremendous advantage that football, as a truly world game, has over and above all the other domestic competitions in this country. This is yet another example of what a global talent pool can offer the Australian sporting market.

Season 4 is barely over, yet the buzz for season 5 is well and truly building.