Before arriving in the Premier Soccer League, Dean Furman had already established himself as a mainstay in the various echelons of English football. The former Bafana Bafana captain recently revisited his time with Bradford City, Oldham Athletic and Doncaster Rovers, and how Steven Pienaar hit him with an eShibobo he will never forget!
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You didn't get to play much at Glasgow Rangers, but did your experience at Ibrox prepare you for what was to come with Bradford City and Doncaster Rovers?
Absolutely. So it all goes hand in hand. I was at Rangers at the time and we had just signed Steven Davis and Pedro Mendes, and I realised that I was at an age where I needed to be playing first-team football every week, but with that calibre of player coming in, I wasn't going to be given that opportunity. I had done my time in the reserves and needed to be playing first-team football. With being at Rangers, the Bradford manager at the time was a guy called Stuart McCall, who's a Rangers legend, and through his contacts at the football club he managed to bring me to Bradford on loan. I had a fantastic season on loan as a 19-year-old. You're playing every week. Bradford is a former Premier League team, you're playing in front of 15 000 fans every week. At the end of that season, I knew I couldn't go back to Rangers and be a bit-part player. I had that feeling that I had to be a big part of something. On the back of that season, Oldham came in for me and it made sense to me that that be the next step in my career.
Apart from SuperSport United, would you say that Oldham was the club where you enjoyed your football the most?
Yeah, I was there, apart from SuperSport, for the longest time. I was made the club captain at the age of 23 or 24, which is a big honour, and I thoroughly enjoyed my time there. We had a couple of great FA Cup runs, so there were some really good memories. It was a great period in my career. I then got the opportunity to join Doncaster to help them get promoted out of League One into the Championship, and I think to test myself at that level was always a goal of mine and I am delighted that I had the opportunity to do so.
You mentioned that you made a couple of great FA Cup runs in your career. Who was the best player you played against during that time?
Yeah, so the Liverpool and Everton games were great. They were amazing for us as a club from the lower leagues. To come up against Steven Gerrard, as a midfielder, the guy was just absolutely phenomenal. He had absolutely everything that you want from a modern-day midfielder. He was big, he was strong, he was quick, his passing range was phenomenal, he could score, so to come up against him and go toe to toe with him and see how good you are, that is what I thrived on throughout my career.
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Even playing for Bafana, it was about coming up against the Senegals and the Egypts and the Ghanas, against the guys who are playing in the Premier League, LaLiga and Serie A, and going, 'Right, let's see what you're all about.' That's where I really thrived, I loved those battles. I loved coming up against John Obi Mikel and [Wilfred] Ndidi for Nigeria, or Mohamed Elneny for Egypt, so for me that was great. I loved those battles. But a lot of great memories... of course, playing against Steven Pienaar is one. We drew with Everton in the first leg and took it to a replay, but wow, what a player. I do remember he did give me a bit of an eShibobo on the night. Something I try and forget but I remember all too well. Coming up against a legend like that is a good memory that I have and I've got his shirt as well from the first leg, which is something that is a special memory.
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