480: Ronny Rosenthal, Tottenham Hotspur, Merlin’s Premier League 97 Official Sticker Collection

We all make mistakes in life and never more so than in the workplace. Thankfully for the vast majority of us our indiscretions aren’t live on Sky Sports and then repeated on Match of the Day. There may be some demand for such televisual excellence but I somehow doubt anyone needs replays from multiple angles of me leaving some worksheets in my office in their lives. For any Educating (insert region here) fans I promise you this is 99% of most teachers’ lives rather than inspirational transformative experiences.

My slightly long winded point here, besides the fact that I regularly leave stuff in my office by mistake, is that if/when I move on to another school I would be really surprised if my prospective employers and colleagues would see my application and think “oh yeah, that bloke who accidentally blew the department’s photocopying budget for the term in one afternoon”. Unless that’s in my reference of course. But I do genuinely wonder what the likes of Teddy Sheringham and a young Sol Campbell thought when they turned up for training in January 1994 and saw Ronny Rosenthal pulling into the Cheshunt car park.

Because back in the inaugural Premier League season Rosenthal, then of Liverpool, beat his marker for pace, collected a long ball from David James, rounded the Aston Villa keeper, took a touch to compose himself in front of an open goal…and then smashed the ball against the bar from about six yards out. You’ve probably seen the footage a few hundred times but feel free to refresh your memory. There have been worse misses of course but few so shocking when you consider the skill and composure shown in the touches preceding it. Villa ran out 4-2 winners and although Rosenthal got himself on the scoresheet later in the game no one remembers that because of this miss.

Nor does anyone really remember the five further goals the Israeli frontman notched up in the 1992/93 season as Liverpool finished in a disappointing sixth position. In fairness plenty of far more interesting things happened that season: Steve Bruce’s winning goal against Sheffield Wednesday introduced us to the concept of ‘Fergie time’; Arsenal took home both domestic cups, beating Wednesday in both finals, despite the loss of Steve Bould to injury; Andy Turner set a record as the youngest Premier League goalscorer that lasted until the arrival of Michael Owen; Coventry City and Norwich City had exceptional kits. And Ronny Rosenthal somehow hit the bar from six yards out with the goal gaping.

Maybe this is what convinced Liverpool to part company with ‘Rocket Ronny’ although it probably wasn’t the first thing that persuaded Tottenham Hotspur to bring him to White Hart Lane in the middle of the 1993/94 season. Rosenthal made a decent start to life in North London with two goals in fifteen games. However, clearly this wasn’t enough for Gerry Francis who brought Jurgen Klinsmann to Spurs limiting Rosenthal to twenty goalless appearances in the Premier League during 1994/95. He did find the net five times in his club’s march to the FA Cup semi-finals but, again, this wasn’t enough to impress his manager as Spurs splashed out £4.5m to bring Crystal Palace’s Chris Armstrong across the Thames. One can only assume that Gerry Francis spent his days watching his VHS of ‘Nick Hancock’s Football Nightmares’ in the office where he was regularly reminded that Rosenthal had, only three years previously, missed an open goal from six yards out.

Undeterred Rosenthal appeared in all but five of Spurs’ Premier League games in the 1995/96 season but only contributed one goal and equalled these efforts in his twenty appearances in 1996/97. He moved on to Watford, then in the Second Division, and helped the Hornets earn back-to-back promotions with eight goals in thirty appearances. Clearly still scarred from his Premier League experiences, where he once defied physics by hitting the crossbar of an open goal against Aston Villa, he announced his retirement from professional football at the age of 35. During his eighteen-year career he also earned 60 caps for Israel for whom he contributed 11 goals.

Did I mention that Rosenthal once missed…Ok, I’ve perhaps been unfair on ‘Rocket Ronny’ in this post. After all over one hundred career goals and spells at big clubs in England and Belgium suggest there was more to the man’s career than that fateful moment at Villa Park. Then again when Rosenthal was asked about the impact of said miss from six yards by the Liverpool Echo back in 2016 he said “I’m glad it happened. I’m glad I missed because I’m still on the map.” If this teaches us anything, apart from that it’s better to kick the ball into the goal rather than against the crossbar when six yards out, it’s that we should own our mistakes. They make us who we are and, long after everyone’s forgotten about that pile of worksheets sat on my office desk, we’ll always remember Ronny Rosenthal’s moment of beautiful mediocrity.