ROCKET RONNY
ROBERT J WILSON RECALLS WHEN LIVERPOOL LAST CLAIMED TOPFLIGHT HONOURS – AND AN UNHERALDED ISRAELI PLAYED A KEY PART…
Liverpool’s goal ace
THE affable German, Jurgen Klopp, could possibly be on the cusp of greatness at Liverpool. Klopp is now into his fourth year at Anfield and it has been a case of close but no cigar for the former Borussia Dortmund and Mainz 05 manager following defeats in the Champions League final last year and Europa League and League Cup finals before that.
He doesn’t need reminding that it is now six final defeats out of the last seven. Klopp will be aiming to silence his most severe critics by landing the greatest prize of all this season.
Liverpool’s previous best finish under Klopp in the Premier League has been in the fourth Champions League spot. They look certain to improve on that standing this time around, but can they keep Pep Guardiola’s Manchester City’s at bay and secure their first league title since 1990?
Graeme Souness, Roy Evans, Gerard Houllier, Rafa Benitez, Roy Hodgson, Kenny Dalglish and Brendan Rodgers have all failed to add to Liverpool’s 18 league title wins.
That barren spell has consequently seen Manchester United surpass that total to reach 20. The bragging rights have only increased the intense rivalry between the two great rivals.
Such was Liverpool’s dominance in the 1970s and 1980s that if anyone had predicted that they would have gone 29 years without landing another league title, they would have been branded clinically insane.
During his incredible first spell as player/manager, Kenny Dalglish inspired his beloved Liverpool to three First Division championships and two FA Cups in just five seasons.
He won the domestic double in his first season in charge in 1986 and was unfortunate not to repeat that incredible feat on another two occasions.
After winning the 1988 title by nine points from Manchester United, they suffered arguably the biggest shock result in their history by losing 1-0 to the ‘Crazy Gang’ of Wimbledon in the FA Cup final.
Twelve months later and in the aftermath of the Hillsborough tragedy, Liverpool defeated their city neighbours Everton in a highly emotional 1989 FA Cup final at Wembley.
It was as if the whole country was willing the Reds to lift the trophy that day after the club had lost 95 (later becoming 96) of their supporters in such a distressing manner at the semi-final in Sheffield. Football became secondary.
Due to the delay in the club returning to playing matches again, the league campaign was concluded later than the FA Cup final with a title showdown between Liverpool and challengers, Arsenal, re-arranged rather nicely for the Friday night of May 26.
With Arsenal needing to win by two clear goals at Anfield, Liverpool were overwhelming favourites to win the title again and become the first club to complete a second double success.
Arsenal had not tasted victory at Anfield for 15 years and no team had beaten Liverpool by two goals for three seasons.
Michael Thomas’ last minute goal to seal the needed 2-0 win for the Gunners will always be remembered as the most dramatic conclusion to a football season ever.
The Liverpool fans showed their class by applauding the achievement of George Graham’s side, as they were presented with the trophy on the Anfield pitch.
Liverpool Football Club showed incredible character and resilience to not only overcome losing a league title in the closing seconds of a season, but also coping with incredible and debilitating grief.
Dalglish once attended four funerals in one day, as to not let those families down. No-one has been more deserving of a knighthood from our sport than him.
Understandably, Hillsborough would later take an enormous toll on Dalglish and he stunned the football world by resigning in February 1991. Liverpool were three points clear at the top of the league at the time and still in the FA Cup.
Although the Hillsborough disaster had affected Dalglish deeply, he had not made it obvious in the 1989-90 season.
The legendary Ian Rush had returned from Juventus to inspire Liverpool to that FA Cup success against Everton in 1989 and the club had secured the
services of the highly-rated Swedish defender, Glenn Hysen, from Fiorentina – but it would be an unheard of Israeli who would make a lasting impression.
Ronny Rosenthal was a prolific marksman in the Belgium League with Club Brugge and Standard Liege when Dalglish looked for another forward player to bolster his options in the title run-in.
Luton Town had been impressed with him during a short trial but were unwilling to commit to a £500,000 fee if the player did well in England. French clubs Metz and Bordeaux were also interested but Rosenthal couldn’t reject Liverpool.
At the time, Liverpool were blessed with forward talent with Rush and the two England internationals, Peter Beardsley and John Barnes, as well as having Dalglish still registered as a player - but the canny Scotsman produced a masterstroke by taking Rosenthal initially on loan in the March.
Rosenthal would become an instant cult hero with the Anfield club as his purple patch of goals helped secure an 18th title ahead of closest challengers, Aston Villa and Tottenham.
He would make a quiet debut when replacing midfielder Steve McMahon with 20 minutes to go in a 3-2 win over Southampton at Anfield but Dalglish handed him his full debut against Charlton Athletic two games later.
Rosenthal came in for the injured Rush for what was then a tricky night game at The Valley, but he repaid the manager’s faith with a ‘perfect hat-trick’ in a comfortable 4-0 win.
Quickly nicknamed ‘Rocket Ronny’ by the supporters, the pacy forward then scored his first Anfield goal in a 2-2 draw with Nottingham Forest before Rush returned from injury for a trip to Arsenal. Barnes scored late on in a 1-1 draw.
Rosenthal regained his starting place for the visit of Chelsea to Anfield with Beardsley dropping to the substitutes’ bench. It took Rosenthal just 25 minutes to get his name back on the scoresheet as Liverpool cruised to a 4-1 victory.
A subsequent 2-1 home win over Queens Park Rangers meant Liverpool could not be caught by Aston Villa with two games to spare and Rosenthal would end his loan spell with a brace at Coventry City in an emphatic 6-1 win on the final day of the season.
Rosenthal’s seven goals in just eight games had played a key part in Liverpool lifting the First Division title once again and his impressive form saw an original transfer fee doubled to £1 million when a permanent deal was agreed between the two clubs that summer.
With such a plethora of striking talent at the club and Dalglish’s eventual replacement, Souness, never fully committed to playing Rosenthal from the start of games, his chances became limited at Anfield over the next four seasons.
Souness much preferred his own signings, Nigel Clough and Dean Saunders, as well as Rush and the emerging youngster Robbie Fowler to the Israeli, but he would still make just three appearances shy of 100 for Liverpool before Tottenham paid £250,000 to take him to London in January 1994.
He would later go on to win the Second Division with Watford before retiring from the game in 1999 at the age of 35.
Of course, if you ever mention the name Ronny Rosenthal, you automatically recall his terrible miss at Villa Park in September 1992 when he hit the underside of the crossbar after rounding Nigel Spink to give himself an open goal.
The shocking miss in front of the Holte End has made many footballthemed blooper DVDs or been shown countless times on social media, but that should never define Rosenthal’s career.
The ‘Rocket Man’ from Haifa came to one of Europe’s top clubs, won a League winner’s medal and will forever be cherished by Liverpool fans for his contribution during the last time they were champions of England.