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Got a football trivia question bugging you? Ask The Gaffer by email, text message or Twitter and Orange's expert will answer the best ones.
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Friday 6 November
Damien Mitchell: Manchester United have not lost a Champions League group game on their ground for eight years? Who beat them? Was it Deportivo?
The Gaffer says: Correct. You have to go back to October 17th, 2001 and a 3-2 home defeat to Deportivo. United have not lost a Champions League game of any description at home since February 2005, a run of 24 games. They hold the record for the most unbeaten games in the competition's history - 25, set between September 2007 and last year's final.
Liam: Hi Gaffer, Great page. My team Dundalk FC play in the Premier Division of Ireland. This season we have had 16 players sent off in 35 league games (1 game remaining), as well as 2 sent off in 3 FAI cup games, giving us a total of 18 sent off in 38 games so far this season. Is this a record for top flight football? Oh, and our manager was also sent off in one of those games.
The Gaffer says: This is very frustrating as you would think such a statistic would be easy to come across. Incredibly, it's not. I don't have a stat which lists the record number of sendings off in all top-flight football. The best in the Premier League is eight, achieved by four teams (Wimbledon, Blackburn, West Ham and Newcastle). Bearing in mind that red cards are now more readily distributed, it's unlikely that will have been surpassed before the advent of the Premier League. I would be very surprised if anything tops Dundalk's ill-disciplined campaign.
Adam, Coventry: Hi Gaffer, my boss is a big Leicester fan and, after them going joint top on Friday (which I didn’t enjoy in the slightest), I was wondering how many clubs have won a league title, been promoted, and gone on to win another league title in their first season?
The Gaffer says: This has happened on too many occasions to list here so I will just give you the details of teams to win the second tier title and then the top-flight title in their first season. They are Liverpool (1905 and 1906), Everton (1931 and 1932), Tottenham (1950 and 1951) and Ipswich (1961 and 1962).
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Thursday 5 November
Kieran: Alright Gaff! Can you name the 13 managers Nicolas Anelka has played for at domestic level? Also, is this a record?
The Gaffer says: I've fount 14 in total although two were joint managers: Luis Fernandez, Joel Bats and Ricardo Gomes (joint), Arsene Wenger, Vicente del Bosque, Gerard Houllier, Kevin Keegan, Christoph Daum, Sam Allardyce, Sammy Lee, Gary Megson, Avram Grant, Guus Hiddink, Carlo Ancelotti. I would imagine former goalkeeper John Burridge holds the record considering he played for 29 different clubs!
James S: Hey gaff, great page as usual. Given the 22-year age gap existing between central defenders David Weir and Danny Wilson, has there been a bigger age gaps in a defensive pairing?
The Gaffer says: Interesting question. I have found another pair with a 22-year gap but they only lasted 15 minutes together. Last season, then 18-year-old Matteo Darmian came on as a late substitute for AC Milan against Udinese. The centre-back was on the pitch at the same time as a 40-year-old Paulo Maldini but they didn't play together again. I would be surprised if another duo could top that...
Dan: Hi Gaffer, how many different teams have won the FA cup since the Premier League began and can you please name them?
The Gaffer says: Arsenal (6), Chelsea (4), Man Utd (4), Liverpool (2), Everton and Portsmouth.
The Cat: Can you name the 16 players who have scored 100 goals or more in the Premier League?
The Gaffer says: Alan Shearer (260), Andy Cole (189), Thierry Henry (174), Robbie Fowler (163), Les Ferdinand (149), Teddy Sheringham (147), Michael Owen (146), Jimmy Floyd Hasselbaink (127), Dwight Yorke (123), Robbie Keane (120), Ian Wright (113), Dion Dublin (111), Frank Lampard (110), Nicolas Anelka (108), Emile Heskey (104), Matthew Le Tissier (101).
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Wednesday 4 November
Hally, Liverpool: Can you name four players who have played for four European Cup-winning teams, yet have never won it themselves?
The Gaffer says: I can name five: Ronaldo (PSV, Barcelona, Internazionale, Real Madrid, AC Milan); Bolo Zenden (PSV, Barcelona, Liverpool and Olympique Marseille); Pierre van Hooijdoink (Celtic, Nottingham Forest, Benfica and Feyenoord); Dean Saunders (Liverpool, Aston Villa, Nottingham Forest, Benfica); Laurent Blanc (Barcelona, Marseille, Internazionale, Manchester United).
Michael, Aycliffe: Hi Gaff, can you tell me the official name of West Ham's ground? My dad reckons it's the Boleyn Ground. Do you know why?
The Gaffer says: The official name of West Ham's ground is indeed the Boleyn Ground. From 1912, the club rented Green Street House, known locally as Boleyn Castle because Anne Boleyn is believed to have once owned it. It was from there that the name 'Boleyn Ground' came into being.
Antacc: What's the longest a team as gone in European competitions without a defeat?
The Gaffer says: The record for the longest undefeated European run is held by Manchester United, who went 25 matches without defeat in between losing 3-0 to Milan in the 2007 semi-final and their defeat to Barcelona in this year's final.
Stephen: In the unlikely event that a goalkeeper was to punch or throw the ball hard enough to go in the opposite goal from his own 18-yard box during open play, would that goal stand?
The Gaffer says: It has never happened and never will happen, but yes the goal would stand.
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Tuesday 3 November
Derby boys: Alrite Gaffa. Which is the only team to have played just one match in the World Cup finals?
The Gaffer says: An excellent World Cup question, the answer to which is the Dutch East Indies. They became the first Asian team to play in the World Cup when they qualified for the 1938 finals, losing 6-0 in the first round to the eventual finalists Hungary. That was the Dutch East Indies' only game in the tournament. The country became Indonesia after independence was gained in 1945.
Dan: Hi Gaffer, please can you tell me who scored the first own goal in the Premier League? Thanks.
The Gaffer says: Goalkeeper Mark Crossley in Nottingham Forest's 4-1 defeat at Blackburn Rovers on 5 September 1992.
Luke, Barnsley: How many World Cup winners have played in the Premier League?
The Gaffer says: Marco Materazzi, Roque Junior, Gilberto Silva, Kleberson, Juninho, Patrick Vieira, Laurent Blanc, Youri Djorkaeff, Didier Deschamps, Stephane Guivarch, Robert Pires, Thierry Henry, Fabien Barthez, Emmanuel Petit, Frank Lebouef, Christian Karembeu, Christophe Dugarry, Branco, Karl-Heinz Riedle, Jurgen Klinsmann, Juliano Belletti (edit: thanks to the many of you who pointed out that I'd forgotten Marcel Desailly and Bernard Lama!).
James, Nottingham: Hi Gaff. Which team has been promoted to the Premier League the most times?
The Gaffer says: Sunderland, who have been promoted four times.
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Monday 2 November
Bones: Apparently there are 18 men to have managed in over 1000 games in the English leagues, but only 14 of them are still alive. Who are the 14 alive and the four deceased managers please?
The Gaffer says: Steve Coppell became the latest man to join this list last March. The list of other managers still with us is Dave Bassett, Alan Buckley, Sir Alex Ferguson, Dario Gradi, Brian Horton, Lennie Lawrence, Harry Redknapp, Joe Royle, Denis Smith, Jim Smith, Graham Taylor, Graham Turner and Neil Warnock. The four deceased 1000-game men are Sir Matt Busby, Brian Clough, Sir Bobby Robson and Alec Stock.
Stephen Parker: I went to my first match in May 1966 - Cardiff City v Middlesbrough. Cardiff won 5-3 to stay in the old 2nd Division and Boro were relegated. So far as I remember, Middlesbrough had a player sent off who was making his debut. I can't remember who he was, but I am sure his first name was Willie (not Maddern). This has bugged me for years and I can't find the answer.
The Gaffer says: Intriguing. There was a goalkeeper called Willie Whigham who joined Boro in 1966 from Falkirk but he didn't make his debut until the start of the 1966-67 season and, as you rightly say, Middlesbrough were by then in the Third Division. Dickie Rooks scored a hat-trick for Boro in the game you went to. Willie and Dickie are kind of similar names - might they have got mixed up in your memory over the fullness of time? (as a fellow gentleman of 'a certain age' I know this happens to me frequently!) If not, the only other two players I can find who joined Boro in the year 1966 (and therefore may possibly have made their debuts that day) are Ray Lugg and Dave Chadwick. Can anyone out there confirm the elusive name Stephen and I are after?
John Laban: Which is the only team who have a better record against Manchester United than MUFC have against them?
The Gaffer says: I have a feeling you're looking for Southend United, who have only faced Manchester Utd once in a competitive fixture and beat them in the Carling Cup in 2006. Freddie Eastwood scored the only goal with a free kick.
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