You have to keep in mind just how exotic foreign players were in the Premier League in 1996, when most sides were made up of British and Irish players, maybe with the odd Scandinavian here or there.

So it's not hard to see why Middlesbrough captured the imagination not just of their own fans, but neutrals too thanks to the signings of Italian superstar Fabrizio Ravanelli and Brazilians Juninho, Emerson and Branco.

And Boro's Australian goalkeeper at the time, Mark Schwarzer, admits that created a bit of a culture shock for all concerned.

Schwarzer told FourFourTwo: "I only played with Fabrizio Ravanelli for my first season there, but I never had any issues with him.

"He just had a level of demand and expectation of players, a level of professionalism that exceeded the norm in England at that time.

"That caused problems with some of the squad. There was also a communication issue with language.

"But it was two different footballing worlds and British players were still adapting.

"You look at what Arsene Wenger brought into Arsenal around diet, well-being and professionalism – that was still in its beginnings in England."

Unfortunately, 'professionalism' was not particularly a watchword for Emerson, who went missing from the squad on multiple occasions as the club increasingly struggled against the threat of relegation.

In Emerson's defence, his wife was reportedly to be desperately unhappy on Teesside - but after finally being sold to Atletico Madrid after another disappearing act following the club's relegation, the midfielder admitted the error of his ways.

Schwarzer said: "I don’t think anybody was surprised. Emo was a phenomenal player, but mad. You just couldn’t control him.

"Even though he went AWOL, everyone still loved him. It was one of those where you should be irate, but you couldn’t because he was such a good guy.

"You just wished that he’d been there for the team more often."