Thirty years of growth, globalisation and goals in the Premier League

When Robert Warzycha scored Everton’s second goal in the 80th minute of their match against Manchester United on Wednesday 19 August 1992, he helped the Toffees secure all three points at Old Trafford. Mo Johnston added a third in the final minute to consign United to their second consecutive defeat of the season. Until this season, it was the only time United had lost their opening two games of a Premier League campaign. However, back in 1992-93, they went on to win the title comfortably, losing just four of their remaining 40 matches to finish 10 points clear of second-placed Aston Villa.

Warzycha’s goal at Old Trafford made him the first player from outside the British Isles to score in the Premier League. The Poland international was one of only 13 foreign players in action during the opening weekend of its inaugural season. Only two of those 13 were from outside Europe – Ipswich’s Canadian goalkeeper Craig Forrest and Liverpool’s Israeli striker Ronnie Rosenthal.

When the current season kicked off, there were more Brazilian players (15) in the starting line-ups than the entire foreign contingent back in 1992. The original 13 foreign players represented just 5% of the starting XIs, whereas last weekend there were 128 foreign players out of the 220 starters, a whopping 58%. These 128 players came from five continents, with 34 nationalities represented.

It’s a similar story in the dug-outs. In 1992-93, all 22 managers in the league were British or Irish – 15 Englishmen, five Scots, a Welshman and an Irishman. There are now a dozen foreign managers in the Premier League, and we still await an English manager winning the title.

Only one of the 22 clubs in the league replaced their manager in the first season of the