“What’s the most random bit of background action of football on TV in a movie?” asks Niki Halsey. “I have just seen Julian Joachim playing for Aston Villa in the background of Hannibal.”
The Knowledge has touched upon footballer cameos in films before, but most of the examples from that article were intentional. So let’s stick to the script set by Niki and dive into random background action in big-budget TV and films.
“In an episode of Entourage, Dennis Hopper (playing himself) persuades character Vince to go in on a million-dollar bet with him on a Manchester United penalty,” offers Tim Postins. “I think it’s Ruud van Nistelrooy who misses.” It is indeed, Tim, and it’s from Manchester United’s Carling Cup semi-final win over Blackburn in January 2006, when Brad Friedel denied the Dutchman from the spot in the 42nd minute. “You can also hear the final scores being read out during a scene from the first Mission: Impossible movie. I seem to remember a comfortable win for Norwich.”
In Body of Lies, Leonardo DiCaprio is in conversation with an Iranian woman while her children watch football on TV. There is some debate as to what match they are absorbed by, with some suggesting it is Cambridge v Yeovil and IMDB stating that the game is Motherwell v Celtic. The Hoops make another appearance in a Hollywood blockbuster, too. Well, they’re supposed to. Around 10 minutes into The Day After Tomorrow, a scientist at a Scottish weather station is supposedly watching Celtic getting hammered 4-0 by Manchester United in the Champions League. There’s a shot of Ryan Giggs strolling through midfield with the ball but, on closer inspection, there is not a Celtic shirt in sight. The match that is advertised as being in Glasgow is actually a 2002 friendly at Old Trafford between United and Boca Juniors. You’d have thought they could have used a bit of the CGI budget on that scene at least.
“Not action, but episode 10 of Gossip Girl’s fourth season makes reference to a draw between PSG and Monaco that took place two days before the episode aired – a surprising attention to detail from a show seldom known for such things!” tweets @jamesv_t. And Dax Wilson takes us off piste … but it’s well worth it. “I remember an episode of the The Sopranos when Robot Wars was on TV in the background! Not football, but Jonathan Pearce was on commentary.” Bada bing!
Playing under multiple managers in a single season
“Leicester loanee signing from Monaco, Youri Tielemans, is now playing under Brendan Rodgers, his fourth club manager in a single season,” writes Padraic Mc Cafferty. “Has there ever been a player who has played under as many?”
There certainly has been Padraic, and at one club alone. “The entire Sheffield United squad had this over four months in 2010-11 and played under five managers in less than a year,” mails Darren White. “We started the season with Kevin Blackwell in charge on 8 August 2010. He was given the boot after two games and assistant Gary Speed took over. In December, Speed departed to manage Wales and John Carver was caretaker for three games before Micky Adams was appointed. Not surprisingly, with all this upheaval United were relegated and Adams was sacked. Danny Wilson was then appointed in June. The first game under Wilson was on 6 August 2011. So there we have it. Any player with the Blades that season played under five managers in less than a year.”
We can raise the Sheffield United squad’s five managers with Palermo’s class of 2015-16, who played under seven different managers in a ludicrous season. The troubled club’s managerial carousel whizzed out of control under the madcap ownership of Maurizio Zamparini, as he pulled the trigger eight times, making nine changes, with two of them being the same man. Here’s the list of managers they went through:
Giuseppe Iachini
Davide Ballardini
Guillermo Barros Schelotto
Fabio Vivani
Giovanni Bosi
Giovanni Tedesco
Giovanni Bosi
Giuseppe Iachini
Walter Novellino
Defenders scoring hat-tricks from open play (2)
We’ve only just emerged from the deluge of your suggestions of defenders plundering hat-tricks after last week …
“David Webb, the Chelsea centre-half, scored a hat-trick at Ipswich,” writes Richard Thorpe. “A couple of years later he played a full game in goal for Chelsea against Ipswich and kept a clean sheet. Chelsea won 2-0. I was there.” Amadei Faccini Avi alerted us to PSG’s Layvin Kurzawa becoming the first defender in modern Champions League history to score a hat-trick. Alex Macleod writes: “Aberdeen’s Andrew Considine, playing in defence, managed this feat in a 7-0 away rout of Dundee FC in March 2017.”
“During a recent poor run of form, my club Aldershot Town lost to 4-1 to Harrogate Town for whom Warren Burrell scored a hat-trick from open play,” writes Pete Stanford, who is Aldershot Town’s historian, no less. “You missed Graham Roberts for Spurs v Southampton in 1981-82,” wrist-slaps Chris Hodge. “To be fair, I only remember it because I was there.”
Alec Cleland did the trick in in January 1996. “For Rangers against Highland League side Keith in a 10-1 Scottish Cup win,” writes Richard Mackie. And former Rangers “cult hero” Bilel Moshni scored a hat-trick for Southend in 2012. Thanks to Nigel Simpson for spotting that one. David Grey, Ronan Heffernan and Simon Gill all got in touch to mention Steve Nicol’s three goals for Liverpool against Newcastle in September 1987, but he was playing in midfield. “In 2002 Leon Cort (brother of Carl) got a hat-trick for Southend in our 4-2 win over Boston in 2002,” writes Martin Rogers.
Knowledge archive
“A couple of years ago I stumbled across what looked like Garth Crooks presenting Newsnight. I’m still, to this day, unsure of whether it was a bad dream or it actually happened. What’s the deal?” asked Andy Blackshire, in November 2005.
Andy was indeed watching on BBC2, but it was Garth Crooks hosting Despatch Box, a late-night politics show. It transpired that Garth used his spare time as a player at Tottenham to study politics at college. Along with this and his BBC Sport work, another string to his broadcasting bow has been the “discussion-cum-record” radio show he hosted on Greater London Radio, Garth Crooks in Conversation, which even won him a Sony Award in 1999-2000.
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Can you help?
“There are now four former and current Liverpool managers managing in the Premier League. What’s the highest number of managers from one team managing at the same time in one division?” asks David J Nolan.
Has any other manager in world football won a double treble apart from Brendan Rodgers at Celtic? And has anyone ever done the treble teble?
— Ben Owen (@BenOwen94) March 5, 2019
Basque sculptor Eduardo Chillida played in goal for Real Sociedad, and former Chelsea GK Petar Barota was an abstract artist- Have any other players had artistic tendencies?
— Crawford / Arts (@UrbanGriller) March 5, 2019
Tony Mowbray played for 3 clubs in his career - Ipswich, Celtic and Middlesbrough - all of which he has managed. Can anyone boast of a higher number in terms of managing all of the clubs he represented as a player?
— DRRN17 (@DRRN17) March 5, 2019
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— Nathan Croucher (@nathancroucher) February 28, 2019
Which player has represented the most town based teams out of all 92 league clubs without having played for a club based in a city?
“There are many stories of children and animals being named after footballers or teams, but has anyone ever changed their own name for football-related reasons?” asks Kári Tulinius.
Has any player come on as a sub in every game in a league season? If not what is the highest %.
— Kameel Gopal (@KameelG) March 5, 2019
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