Daily Mirror (Northern Ireland)
JUST CALL HIM THE DO RONNY
IRAN NATIONALITIES PER SEASON IN THE PREM Rosenthal signing for Liverpool paved the way for foreign stars
IT WAS once the place where foreigners used to wash up by mistake. But last weekend, when Mbwana Samatta made his Premier League debut for Aston Villa, Tanzania became the 117th country to provide a player to the Premier League. Yet when the brave new dawn of the league began in August 1992, you could count the number of overseas countries, those excluding the
United Kingdom and Republic of Ireland, on your fingers.
Ronny Rosenthal (below) was one of those pioneers and admittedly a reluctant one. The Israel international had signed for Liverpool in 1990 and played as a sub against Nottingham Forest in the first game of the Premier League era.
“I was not meant to come to England,” he said. “I was playing in Belgium and signed a deal with Udinese subject to contract.
“At that time Italy was the biggest League in the world and it was a player’s dream to play in Serie A.
“Then later Udinese said I had failed that medical – in truth they had another player they wanted to sign so they ‘discovered’ something in my back so they could exit from their agreement.
“Given Italy had not worked out, I had planned to go to Germany or France. I never thought about England. “Liverpool wanted to take me on loan. It was to change the course of my life.” Rosenthal, who still lives in Cricklewood, London, with his family, admitted the influx was slow at first.
“Settling in England was easy for me because I am somebody who is very adaptable,” he said.
“But a lot of players in those early days of the Premier League came and didn’t adapt. Fairly quickly, they left and were dubbed failures.
“Everything is much easier now. You feel you are in an international place, not an English league anymore.”
Marquee signings such as Jurgen Klinsmann, Dennis Bergkamp and Ruud Gullit cemented a new era of overseas players.
In the Premier League era, the figures include 210 from France, 143 from Spain and 78 from Brazil.
“By 1994 when I moved to Tottenham it was clear English football was beginning to dominate Europe,” said Rosenthal.
“The first factor was money – it always is! But the second factor was coverage.
“People all around the world were beginning to see English football on TV and it was being played in front for full stadiums on great pitches.”