Football quiz: test your knowledge of the game’s most remarkable phone calls

Mikel Arteta has revealed that Eberechi Eze phoned him to discuss a possible transfer to Arsenal. Photograph: Tolga Akmen/EPA

1. Which England hopeful admitted to telling Thomas Tuchel he was wrong to leave him out of the squad in a phone call this March?

   1. Cole Palmer

   2. Eberechi Eze

   3. Jack Grealish

   4. Morgan Gibbs-White

2. Why did Roy Keane opt against signing Robbie Savage for Sunderland, after calling the then-Blackburn midfielder to discuss a move?

   1. Savage was eating during the call

   2. Savage didn’t pick up and his voicemail message irritated Keane

   3. Savage’s battery died during the conversation

   4. Savage put Keane on speaker phone in his car without asking

3. What phone-based theme connects Sean Dyche, José Mourinho and Unai Emery?

   1. They all use a Nokia 3210 for work calls, to avoid distractions

   2. They have all answered a journalist’s phone in a press conference

   3. They have all banned mobile phones from club training grounds

   4. All three coaches claim to have been sacked via text message

4. Back in 2001, Sven-Göran Eriksson revealed David Beckham was likely to be made England captain on a prank call with a DJ pretending to be …

   1. John Motson

   2. Ulrika Jonsson

   3. Kevin Keegan

   4. David Beckham

5. Which former Premier League target man thought he was talking to Sean Dyche about a move to Burnley – only to discover it was a prank call from a schoolboy?

   1. Grant Holt

   2. Andy Carroll

   3. Jan Vennegoor of Hesselink

   4. Amr Zaki

6. Ali Dia’s infamous single substitute appearance for Southampton came about through a phone call. But which legendary striker did Saints boss Graeme Souness think he was talking to?

   1. Alan Shearer

   2. Filippo Inzaghi

   3. George Weah

   4. Jürgen Klinsmann

7. Gary Lineker revealed that he once turned down an offer from which legendary manager in a brief phone call?

   1. Brian Clough

   2. Sir Alex Ferguson

   3. Johan Cruyff

   4. Arrigo Sacchi

8. Which former Tottenham manager found out his days at the club were numbered after getting a mid-match text message from his nephew?

   1. Glenn Hoddle

   2. Juande Ramos

   3. Martin Jol

   4. André Villas-Boas

9. Wayne Rooney revealed earlier this year that Sir Alex Ferguson texts him every time …

   1. Manchester United lose a game

   2. Rooney appears on the BBC as a pundit

   3. Manchester United sign a player

   4. Rooney gets sacked from a managerial job

10. Which former Manchester United player once responded to a string of prank callers by posting their phone numbers and pictures on Twitter?

    1. Ryan Giggs

    2. Gary Neville

    3. Wayne Rooney

    4. Paul Scholes

11. “I thought it was a scam initially, that the lads were just trying to wind me up” – which surprise England call-up trotted out this well-worn phrase earlier this year?

    1. Dan Burn

    2. Jordan Henderson

    3. James Trafford

    4. Trevoh Chalobah

12. Finally, why was Ukrainian player Volodymyr Kozlenko suspended in 2015?

    1. He ran up a hefty bill calling his wife on the manager’s office phone

    2. He refused to wear a shirt sponsored by a mobile phone company

    3. He was seen making calls and checking his phone during a game

    4. He was caught prank calling an opposition manager before a match

Solutions

1:D - “I said to him: ‘I feel like I’ve done enough to get the call-up,’” Gibbs-White told BBC Radio 5 Live. “But I respected his decision.” There were no hard feelings, as Tuchel eventually called the Forest star up to replace the injured Palmer., 2:B - “I got Robbie’s number and rang him,” Keane recalled in his autobiography. “His voicemail said: ‘Hi it’s Robbie – whazzuuup!’ Like the Budweiser ad. I never called him back.”, 3:B - A reminder for all of us to make sure our phones are on mute., 4:C - Mike Maguire, a DJ on Manchester’s Century FM, reached the recently-appointed England manager at home in Italy. Asked if Beckham would be the next captain, Eriksson replied “I think so” – then suggested the pair meet for lunch., 5:A - On the books at third-tier Wigan and recovering from an injury, Holt thought it was his lucky day – but a local sixth-former was impersonating Dyche’s gravelly tones., 6:C - The caller, who was a friend of Dia and possibly working as his agent, impersonated the Liberian striker and recommended Souness give his cousin a trial. The rest is history., 7:A - Lineker declined a potential move to Nottingham Forest due to his Leicester connections, and a preference to join “a big club”. Clough ended the call soon after., 8:C - The Dutchman was tipped off that Spurs had been in talks with Ramos during a Uefa Cup tie against Getafe. “I won’t lie, I didn’t feel great at that moment,” Jol admitted a few years later., 9:D - The former United forward told The Overlap: “Every time I get sacked, Fergie gives me a text.” He wouldn’t reveal what his former manager had to say, however., 10:B - Neville later deleted the tweets. It wasn’t the pundit’s first run-in with a crank caller; in 2016, a clip surfaced online which appeared to feature Neville berating a prankster over the phone., 11:A - The Newcastle centre-back couldn’t quite believe the call was from Thomas Tuchel – until the England manager appeared on FaceTime to confirm his identity., 12:C - Believe it or not, it happened. Kozlenko was banned by his club, Olimpik Donetsk, after hiding the device in his shorts before a friendly.

Scores

1. 5 and above.

   Hold the line – that's a decent effort

2. 0 and above.

   Straight to voicemail. Thanks for playing

3. 10 and above.

   The lads aren't winding you up – you've done well