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Ask the Gaffer football trivia archive
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Sunday July 12
Ian, Weybridge: Whats the longest a penalty shoot out has gone before somebody has missed, in any competition?
The Gaffer says: Fantastic question! After trawling the archives I've found what must surely be the world record. In the Turkish cup final of 1996 between Genclerbirligi and Galatasaray, following a 1-1 draw, there was the traditional penalty shootout. Incredibly, the first 32 spot kicks were ALL converted. Six players from both sides had to take two penalties (including Hakan Sukur, Georghe Hagi, above, and Tugay for Galatasaray), before the unfortunate Ilyas missed and an exhausted Genclerbirligi side celebrated.
Gordon, Edinburgh: What is the most sucessful club in European Cup competition based on wins without the Italian, English, German and Spanish leagues? My mate reckons Steau Bucharest but I reckon Ajax.
The Gaffer says: Based on overall European Cup/Champs Lge matches won, the overall winners are Benfica and Dynamo Kiev with 85 wins each, then Ajax with 77, Celtic 64, Anderlecht 61, Rangers 61, PSV 54 and Panathinaikos 45.
Ant: Out of current Premiership teams who got from bottom tier to top tier quickest? I reckon Wigan.
The Gaffer says: Hull and Fulham both rose from bottom to top in five seasons, while it took Wigan nine seasons, mainly because they were stuck in the old Division Two (League One) for six.
Biggestbotts: How many players have played for more than one of the "big four" clubs since the Premier League started in 1992?
The Gaffer says: We had this one a couple of months ago. Mark Bosnich, Ashley Cole, Mikael Silvestre, William Gallas, Paul Parker, Jermaine Pennant, Paul Ince, Emmanuel Petit, Mark Hughes, Nicolas Anelka, Boudewijn Zenden, Lassana Diarra, Juan Sebastian Veron. Michael Owen and Glen Johnson (thanks Rohitnio) will soon make it 15.
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Saturday July 11
Dave, London: Gaffer,has any team ever won three straight promotions to go from bottom flight to top flight in consecutive seasons?
The Gaffer says: No team has done it in three seasons in England although Wolves did do the reverse trip in three. Swansea (1978-1981 - helped by Alan Curtis, left) and Wimbledon (1983-86) each climbed from bottom to top in four seasons. That's the best. In Scotland however Gretna did achieve this with three straight promotions between 2004-07.
Tom: Who was the 1st EVER subsitute in the English league? I know this.
The Gaffer says: So do I! Keith Peacock of Charlton Athletic on August 21, 1965, when he replaced injured goalkeeper Mike Rose eleven minutes into their away match against Bolton Wanderers.
Conley: When was the last time either Rangers or Celtic failed to win the Scottish title and who won it?
The Gaffer says: Aberdeen, managed by Sir Alex Ferguson, in the 1984-85 season.
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Friday July 10
Steven: Have any footballer players played for each of the big four London clubs?
The Gaffer says: Assuming you mean Arsenal, Spurs, Chelsea and West Ham, the nearest player I can think of is Clive Allen, although he technically never played for Arsenal in a competitive match. He did play in a few pre-season friendlies though, so I reckon he counts. For the record, he also played for Crystal Palace and Millwall so is always a good man to throw into answers about London clubs. Jimmy Greaves is another possible answer, having turned out for Chelsea, Tottenham, West Ham and, erm, Barnet.
Craig: Would you please be so kind as to tell me which current Manchester United players have picked up two European Cup winners medals?
The Gaffer says: Gary Neville, Ryan Giggs, Wes Brown, Paul Scholes, Edwin van der Sar (his first was with Ajax) and Owen Hargreaves (first with Bayern Munich).
Gary, Tamworth: I remember watching Sunderland scoring three own goals in a match a few years ago in the Premiership. Who were the unlucky scorers and is this a record for any team? If not what is? Thanks.
The Gaffer says: Stephen Wright and Michael Proctor (2) were the unfortunate souls who scored for Sunderland in their disastrous 3-1 home defeat to Charlton in February 2003. Regular readers will know this is not a record. Sorry to repeat this old classic, but the world record for most goals in a game is 149. It occurred in a four-team play-off to decide the domestic championship in Madagascar. Coach of the reigning champions, Stade Olympique de L'Emyrne, ordered his side to score as many own goals as they could during their clash with rivals SOE. They lost the match 149-0. The protest came after allegedly biased refereeing during the club's previous play-off game against AS Adema, in which their opponents clinched the title.
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Thursday July 9
Ray: Which was the last team to win the FA Cup with the most English players in the team?
The Gaffer says: West Ham were the last side to field an all-English team after beating Fulham 2-0 in the 1975 final: Mervyn Day, John McDowell, Frank Lampard, Billy Bonds (c), Tommy Taylor, Kevin Lock, Billy Jennings, Graham Paddon, Alan Taylor, Trevor Brooking, Pat Holland. Sub: Bobby Gould. Manager John Lyall was also English.
Dudley: Rivaldo has won the title in four different countries (Spain, Italy, Greece and Uzbekistan). Has any player won it in more?
The Gaffer says: Rivaldo also won the title in Brazil so that makes five (thanks Simon).
David: Hi Gaff, can you tell me which club Mark Molloy plays for? The last I heard he was at East Stirling.
The Gaffer says: Snap! Molloy was last spotted playing for East Stirling where he made 17 appearances but he left at the end of the 2006-07 season and hasn't signed for another club since.
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Wednesday July 8
Sean Cushion: When was the last time none of the current top four English sides won a trophy?
The Gaffer says: Great question. I've taken 'a trophy' to mean the two major English cup competitions, the league title, the two (before 1999 three) European competitions and the Super Cup and World Club Cup. The answer is 1974-1975. Derby won the title, West Ham the FA Cup, Aston Villa the Carling Cup and there were no English successes in Europe.
Rory: Which team has reached the most European Cup finals without ever winning it? Also same question for World Cup.
The Gaffer says: Good question. Only two teams have twice been runners-up and never won the European Cup - they are Reims and Valencia. For the World Cup - read Czechoslovakia, Hungary and Holland. All three were runners-up twice.
Janice: Are there any Premier League teams who have never won a trophy? I've heard this said about Wigan before.
The Gaffer says: You're right about Wigan. Neither Latics nor Hull have ever won a major trophy.
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Tuesday July 7
Davie Mun Dundee: Who has played for and against England, for and against Liverpool, for and against Everton. Do your best Gaff.
The Gaffer says: "Do my best?!" Ha! The answer is Dave Watson, who started his career as an apprentice at Liverpool before joining Everton later on after a long stint at Norwich. During those spells he obviously played against both Everton and Liverpool. Watson won 12 England caps, but interestingly played AGAINST England when he lined up for a Hong Kong Select XI in a warm-up match before Euro 96.
Pete, Macclesfield: Hi there Gaff. Whatever happened to Tomas Brolin? When he was signing for Leeds he was a real talent, but when he turned up, he was really awful and very overweight.
The Gaffer says: After Leeds, Brolin found it no easier to avoid the pie shop at Crystal Palace, where he had a largely unsuccessful spell, before hanging up his boots. He now apparently owns a nightclub in Stockholm and plays on the World Series Poker tour. Sounds like he's probably a picture of health these days!
Mark, Nottingham: Just wondering what is the lowest amount of goals a player has scored having been a league's top scorer the season before? For example, top scorer then only got nine the next year. Not including players who were injured the season after being top!
The Gaffer says: Good one. I haven't got a spare week to look through all the divisions but in the Premier League, Chris Sutton's post 1997-98 season will take some beating. He finished joint top scorer with Dion Dublin and Michael Owen on 18 that year but then scored just four goals in 1998-99. It wasn't all due to injury either - he played 20 games that season.
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Monday July 6
Stimpy: Hey Gaff. Has any player scored a perfect hat-trick in the Prem? Left foot, right foot and header?
The Gaffer says: Yes they have, Stimpy. Mikael Forssell (left) for Birmingham v Tottenham in March 2008; Gabriel Agbonlahor for Aston Villa v Manchester City on 17 August 2008; Emmanuel Adebayor for Arsenal v Blackburn on 13 September 2008; Peter Crouch for Liverpool v Arsenal, and on 3 December 2008 Carlos Tevez scored a four-goal 'grand slam' for Man Utd v Blackburn. This consisted of a header, penalty kick (right-footed), left-foot and right-foot.
Dean, Darlo: Who is the youngest and the oldest player to win the Prem title?
The Gaffer says: David Seaman is the oldest recipient of a Premiership winner's medal. He was 38 years and 234 days old when Arsenal won the title in 2001-02. Gael Clichy is the youngest, when at 18 years and 294 days, his Arsenal side won the 2003-04 crown.
Morgan, Glasgow: Can you name the only team not to have any of the letters from the word FOOTBALL in their name?
The Gaffer says: Dundee.
The Gaffer's football trivia archive:
29/06/09 - 05/07/09: Managers who've won top flight with different clubs; retired shirts and Diana Ross. Trivia answers
22/06/09 - 28/06/09: First £100k British transfer; most common Premier League surname; international twins. Trivia answers
15/06/09 - 21/06/09: The leakiest Premier League keeper; the longest Celtic and Rangers have gone without tropies. Trivia answers
08/06/09 - 14/06/09: World Cup clean-sheet records; most capped players; England's highest scoring partnerships. Trivia answers
01/06/09 - 07/06/09: England players to be sent off; Rangers players with the letter 'u' in their first and last names. Trivia answers
25/05/09 - 31/05/09: First player to be sent off in Champions League final; most penalties awarded in normal time of a game. Trivia answers
18/05/09 - 24/05/09: Premier League ever-presents; foreign managers in the SPL; World Cup wonders. Trivia answers
11/05/09 - 17/05/09: Foreign Premier League managers; Fewest defeats for a runner-up; Premier League own goals. Trivia answers
04/05/09 - 10/05/09: Premier League player-managers; Highest Uefa Cup scorers; Champions League debut hat-tricks. Trivia answers
27/04/09 - 03/05/09: One-club wonders; Premier League's most booked players; most international caps: Trivia answers
20/04/09 - 26/04/09: Scorer of most England hat-tricks; Cruyff's special deal; Ruud's record goal run: Trivia answers
13/04/09 - 19/04/09: Brothers to play for different countries; England internationals born abroad. Trivia answers
06/04/09 - 12/04/09: Youngest ever league scorer; players with capital city surnames and matches won by coin toss. Trivia answers
30/03/09 - 05/04/09: International goal droughts; Italians in the Prem; non-indigenous title winners. Trivia answers
23/03-09 - 29/03/09: Oldest England debutant; the football Lord; England players with an 'x'; Charity Shield poser. Trivia answers
16/03/09 - 22/03/09: British players to score in two European Cup finals; highest scoring keeper; most teams in a city. Trivia answers
09/03/09 - 15/03/09: Brothers to play in the Premier League; first player to be sent off in an FA Cup final at Wembley. Trivia answers
02/03/09 - 08/03/09: Last three English managers to win the FA Cup; non-English Premier League high scorers. Trivia answers
23/02/09 - 01/03/09: Smallest ever crowd; Laurie Cunningham's strange fact; Kanu's great record, quickest goal. Trivia answers
16/02/09 - 22/02/09: 13 Prem winners from one country; unofficial world champions; fathers and sons in same XI. Trivia answers
09/02/09 - 15/02/09: Rio Ferdinand's stint in goal; which footballer links England, Scotland, Wales and Jamaica? Trivia answers
