Ronny Rosenthal interview: The cult hero who never got a winners' medal after helping Liverpool to their last title

Villa’s manager in 1990, the late Graham Taylor, never forgot Rosenthal’s spectacular introduction.

“You killed my title dream,” he told the Israeli.

Given the affable Taylor was trying to sign him it does not strike you as the most tempting sales pitch, but it is a reminder of Rosenthal’s place in Anfield history.

“It was 10 years later and Graham was Watford’s manager,” says Rosenthal. “We were walking around the pitch at Vicarage Road and he told me, ‘I was leading the table and I was furious when the FA gave Liverpool permission for the work permit to play you’.

“I wasn’t going to join a club outside the Premier League but he convinced me and I signed for three years. Graham was a great manager. I really liked him.”

This week, Rosenthal celebrated the anniversary of Taylor’s fury.

Seventeen days before the title was won – three days after Liverpool’s shock 4-3 FA Cup semi-final defeat to Crystal Palace – Rosenthal scored the perfect hat-trick away at Charlton Athletic; left foot, right foot and a header. With Rush injured and Peter Beardsley off form, Liverpool needed Rosenthal to hit the ground running – or in his case sprinting. He had arrived on Merseyside a month earlier and was still on trial. Given the nickname Sheke by Ronnie Moran (a variation on Shekel, the Israeli currency) Rosenthal proved his value.

“The Charlton game is the most memorable, but I made my debut as a sub in the league game before,” he recalls.

“We were playing Southampton and 2-1 down with 20 minutes left. I did well and we won 3-2. That was the start.

“Then I was not even on the bench for the FA Cup semi-final. I did not understand why. Even on the day of the Charlton game I was not sure if I would be involved. An hour before, Kenny [Dalglish] told me I was starting.”

Rosenthal often watches the footage, although an abiding memory of the day is the coach ride home.

“There were no mobile phones, of course, but I was desperate to speak to my friends and family. There was a phone on the coach so I asked the driver if I could use it,” he recalls.

“Kenny said to me, ‘Sheke, talk as much as you want’.

“I called Israel for over an hour. I don’t know if anyone realised at that time it was about £10 a minute to call overseas. The bill came to over £1,000. The club was so happy with me, nobody said anything.”

Rosenthal was an unlikely signing. After moving to Belgian football from Maccabi Haifa, at 25 he was travelling Europe hunting games. 

“The previous summer I agreed to move to Udinese for £1 million, but they pulled the deal claiming I failed a medical,” said Rosenthal.

“I didn’t. Italian clubs were limited to three overseas players and changed their mind to buy an Argentinian, Abel Balbo, instead.

“When I went back to Standard Liège, the new coach told me he did not want me. I could not believe it. I was top goalscorer. So I was back in Belgium, not playing and looking for a club. I was on trial at Hibernian, then Holland, and eventually I ended up on trial at Luton Town.”

Here comes the irony. Liverpool’s last title owes a debt to a Manchester United legend.

A year before the club’s former winger Jimmy Ryan return to Old Trafford to assist Sir Alex Ferguson’s glorious era, he was Luton’s manager.

“Jim wanted to sign me for Luton and I wanted to join, but could not agree a deal,” explained Rosenthal. 

“Pini Zahavi told Kenny about me. Pini had a good relationship with Liverpool (the agent had earlier taken another Israeli, Avi Cohen, to the club) so Kenny called Jim. Because Jim was Scottish I think Kenny trusted him. He gave Kenny the confidence to give me a try, but Liverpool was not sure. There was no option to buy in the loan deal so they took a risk. To be honest with you I am not sure how they did get the work permit. There were not too many foreign players in England then.”

Liverpool’s dressing room, full of winners and suspicious of players they had never heard of, was intimidating. 

“I was not sure how much of a chance I would get but I was confident. John Aldridge had just left but they had Ian [Rush] and Peter Beardsley upfront. 

“At first people looked at me like I was coming from third world football in Israel and Belgium and thought, ‘Who is this guy?’ People knew nothing about me and I was joining a club of stars. I was quiet and my English was not so good. The respect started in training. As soon as you played well everyone would want to know more about you, where you had been.

“I had arrived in an important situation. Liverpool started the season well and then dropped points around Christmas. Kenny left out Beardsley to give me my chance.”

Alongside Player of the Year Barnes, Rosenthal’s dynamic running rejuvenated the club. His goals against Nottingham Forest and Sunday’s opponents Chelsea edged Liverpool closer, as did another vital cameo at Arsenal.

“I had a good run scoring the first in games,” said Rosenthal.

He was paired with Rush for the decisive victory over QPR.

“It was tense nailing the league,” says Rosenthal. “We celebrated with champagne in the bath, but let me tell you something that was misunderstood about me. I could never recover well after a game and I can remember not having the energy to celebrate. I would start well and then tire. 

“People thought I was lazy or did not work hard enough, but that was not it. I just couldn’t do it. I struggled at the end of games.”

After snubbing a rival bid by Arsenal and signing permanently for £1 million, despite fleeting glimpses it would never get any better than this immediate impact before his move to Tottenham and then Watford. Supporters beyond Merseyside tease Rosenthal for one of the famous Premier League misses, hitting the bar with the goal open at Villa Park in 1992. He smiles, welcoming the inevitability of being asked about it again.

“Some players are sensitive. I am completely the opposite. I say, ‘Thank God I missed’,” he says.

“Every time someone misses an unbelievable chance, the press call me. If I was not at the very top and I made that miss, no-one would mention it. So I if people say ‘he has done a Ronny Rosenthal’ I am happy. Really. I am.”

By then Dalglish had quit. Rosenthal believes the modern world caught up with Liverpool.

“When I signed Liverpool were able to get all the best players and they had a system that brought success,” he said.

“Then the Premier League arrived football started changing. Clubs improved scouting, more foreign players arrived and the game became more tactical. Everyone else got better and there were things Liverpool lacked. Mainly, they started to get their recruitment wrong.

“I know people blamed a lot on Graeme Souness. This is wrong. Whoever was manager then would have seen things were changing.

“Do you know the best manager I worked with tactically? Gerry Francis at Tottenham. When I made a mistake he would show me the videos. He made players understand the game better.

“To me, the Liverpool team today is the best Liverpool team ever. I know you will say look at what all those teams won. Yes, they were the best of their time. But the game has changed. There is more athleticism now, more tactical understanding and speed, so these players are better. But that does not mean they will be remembered the same. To do that, they must win and put a stamp it.”

Rosenthal, whose son Tom plays in Belgium, now works as a London-based football consultant with another son, Dean. His office is a shrine to his achievements and stellar names he has worked with and for. The photographs and shirts demonstrate how proudly he clings to the memories. Sadly, they are the only souvenirs of his contribution to the last time Liverpool ruled English football.

“I did not get a medal,” says the 55-year-old. “I did not play enough games as there were only eight left when I made my debut. It is not a problem. The performances stay in history. When you finish your career you do not need to look at a medal to know what you have achieved. I did something important for Liverpool. I did not need a medal to tell me that.”