SUPERSPORT’S Thomas Mlambo is one of the most accomplished television soccer presenters around.
He is the presenter of the popular weekly programme Soccer Africa and has now diversified to other areas of soccer coverage as well.
However, Mlambo lost my respect when he presented Premier League’s Goats Africa XI, a selection of the 11 best African players to have featured in the English Premiership.
What was shocking was that there was no mention at all of Peter Ndlovu, the first black African to play in the modern era of the English Premiership.
Ndlovu opened the gates for all the other African footballers who went on to play in the Premiership after joining Coventry at the age of 19.
He joined Coventry City in 1992 and terrorized defences at will, scoring great goals including a hat trick against Liverpool.
The likes of Nigeria and Wimbledon’s John Fashanu only played in the Premiership when Ndlovu had already made his mark.
Fine, Ndlovu might not be among the best 11 African footballers to have played in the Premiership but he certainly deserves recognition and respect.
- Inside sport: Respect Peter Ndlovu
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The Premier League Goats programme appeared to ignore all what Ndlovu did but nobody can take that away from him.
What was even more disturbing was that Mlambo even considered Steven Piennar among his best 11 but the South African's contribution at Everton was less convincing compared to Ndlovu at Coventry.
Even more disturbing was that the two other panelists, John Barnes and Lucas Radebe also appeared to ignore the Peter Ndlovu factor and even placed Eduard Mendy ahead of Bruce Grobbelaar.
Ndlovu is still adored by the Coventry City fans who still talk about him with affection 30 years later.
The only mistake Ndlovu made was to turn down an offer to join Liverpool, one of the biggest clubs not only in England but the world over.
History will never be altered to suit certain agendas and Ndlovu will remain the man that opened the doors to the English Premiership for African footballers.
After all, he was ranked the seventh top Africa footballer in 1992 compared to all the others scattered all over the globe.
Perhaps, Zimbabwe needs to honour him first so that the outside world can appreciate the contribution he made to football.
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