“Has a goalkeeper ever been substituted for not playing well enough?” wonders Mitch Mitchell.
Well, here’s a quick answer Mitch: yes, loads. “I’m sure scores of Leeds fans immediately thought of Paul Rachubka who was substituted at half-time in the 5-0 loss to Blackpool in 2011,” begins Jamie O’Hare, one of several to suggest this one. “Rachubka was not a great success at Leeds, he’d been signed that summer following his release from Blackpool. He didn’t play again for Leeds.”
Who could forget this one? Not Chris Bickley: “Swindon’s Wes Foderingham was subbed at 2-0 after 20 minutes against Preston in 2012 and didn’t take it in the greatest of grace (though this was under Paolo Di Canio, mind). It didn’t help, they lost 4-1.” Following the game, Di Canio launched into a stinging criticism of his goalkeeper. “He was one of the worst players I have ever seen,” fumed the Italian. “Out there he behaved as the worst professional, arrogant, ignorant athlete I have ever seen.” Foderingham had his say in 2015: “It was an accumulation of emotions and things happen. I took the hinges off the door on the way down the tunnel.”
Speaking of sensitivity, William Jones recalls Alan Pardew: “Reading’s 5-3 defeat to Wycombe in 1999 immediately came to mind. Scott Howie was so hopeless he was substituted at half-time when the score was 2-0, Pardew later explaining it was to ‘save him further embarrassment’.”
Not as bad as being hooked during a World Cup match, though. “Stere Adamache played in Romania’s first two 1970 matches, a 1-0 loss to England and a 2-1 win over Czechoslovakia. Romania needed something against Brazil to qualify and, after 22 minutes, were 2-0 down (Pelé and Jairzinho) so he was substituted, despite YouTube highlights not exactly showing him to be at major fault for either. Brazil won 3-2 and Romania went home.” John Nugée chips in: “Zaire goalkeeper Kazadi Mwamba was substituted in their 1974 World Cup game v Yugoslavia. Zaire were 3-0 down and would lose 9-0.”
Martin Hartmann has a cracking tale about Jens Lehmann’s early Schalke days, in October 1993. “His team was trailing 3-0 against Bayer Leverkusen,” mails Martin. “At half-time he was taken off by Jörg Berger ‘to protect him’ and substitute keeper Holger Gehrke went on. Schalke lost 5-1. Lehmann left the stadium and went home on public transport. He had to borrow five Deutschmarks from another passenger for the fare, as he had no money on him.”
We’ll briefly whizz through some more: Bury’s Brian Jensen was withdrawn at Southend in 2014, with their game scoreless at the interval, manager David Flitcroft declaring: “He was giving away possession. If that was a centre-half I would have done something about it” … the game finished 0-0 (flagged up by Darrien Bold); Martyn Margetson, taken off at half-time during Manchester City’s 5-2 home defeat to Everton in 1993, having conceded three (Andrew Clarke); Michel Kuipers, Brighton at Southend in August 2000 (Rob Kelly); José Molina, for Deportivo against Monaco in that 2004 Champions League tie (Sergey Grishechkin); Lee Baxter, hauled off by Neil Warnock in Sheffield United’s 2003 defeat at Burnley (John Marshall); Jordan Perez, removed after conceding all seven in Gibraltar’s 7-0 shellacking against the Republic of Ireland in 2014; Carl Emberson, taken off by Ray Graydon with the game scoreless at half-time in Walsall’s 2000 win over Reading (Robert Davies); Ademola Bankole, the fall guy in Crewe’s 2002 6-1 home loss to Coventry (Steve Lacey); Sandro Guzmán, removed from the fray of unhappy home Boca Juniors fans in 1997 (Federico Marmarides); and Sam Ramsbottom, subbed during Macclesfield Town’s 6-0 defeat at AFC Fylde last season (James Walker).
Substitutions: a job lot
“Motherwell’s defeat against Kilmarnock on Boxing Day saw them forced to make all three substitutions within the first 28 minutes due to injuries,” writes Grant Milne. “Is there a ridiculously earlier instance in a professional match?”
Here’s Graeme Park with an answer that combines our first two questions. “This reminded me of the Johnstone’s Paint Trophy match between Sheffield Wednesday and Bradford in 2011. Rules dictated that clubs had to play six first-team players, which lead to the odd scene of the goalkeeper being subbed in the second minute and using up the other two substitutions in the 18th minute. Obviously Bradford had been paying attention as they also circumnavigated the rules in the Checkatrade Trophy in 2016 by subbing their goalkeeper in the third minute.
Big ground, small town: update
Last week we looked at the clubs that can fit their location’s entire population in their stadium? Here’s Perry Hewitt with more: “Monaco’s Stade Louis II home – capacity 18,523 – is based in the principality’s southernmost ward of Fontvieille. That 3,602 people were calling this slab of 0.127 square miles home (as of 2008) is staggeringly high, but also means the ground can squeeze in 514% of its “local” population.
“What truly makes this feat is that with Monaco’s entire population of 37,330 in 2016, the Stade Louis II can comfortably seat a smidgeon under half of the residents of the entire country. Comparatively, the Rheinpark Stadion in Liechtenstein (7,584) can host 137% of hometown Vaduz and 20% of the whole country, and San Marino’s national stadium (6,664) can fit in 61% of its home castello of Serravalle and 20% of all Sammarinese.”
Knowledge archive
“Milan legend (well, you know, tackles, tackles and more tackles) Gennaro Gattuso was sent off for Palermo in his first game as a manager,” stated Bogdan Kotarlic in 2013. “I know that it is not something completely unusual for a tyro manager to be sent off but I would like to know who were the others?”
Luckily, Eugene McGinley was on hand with the answer. “Graeme Souness was dismissed in his first game as player-manager for the old Rangers,” he wrote. “August 1986. Not surprisingly, his tackle was closer to an assault on Hibs player George McCluskey and a melee ensued in which virtually every player on the field became involved – all except for Scottish international keeper Alan Rough, who later admitted he was too lazy to run up and get involved. Souness followed this up with another dismissal in the Glasgow derby with Celtic the following August.”
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“Does anyone know when the first backflip, grass-sliding or other ludicrous goal celebrations had their first appearance?” asks Duarte Romeu.
“Pep Guardiola says he didn’t leave the Etihad grass long against Liverpool. But which teams or managers have used this tactic to help their own side or hinder an opponent?” asks George Jones.
“What is the furthest distance a player has scored from without using their head or foot, disregarding deflections?” wonders Michael Hargreaves.
Chorley's top scorer in all competitions is (or was when I last checked) their left back despite the club being top of the Vanarama National North. Which leads to the question what is the highest league finish a team has achieved with a defender top scoring over the season?
— Gaz F (@gazlatic) January 8, 2019
@TheKnowledge_GU reading the new Kevin Keegan book got me thinking - mainly as Keegan himself thinks he's in with a shout - but who holds the record for goals scored at now defunct grounds?
— Bad Photos At Gigs (@BadPhotosAtGigs) January 8, 2019
@TheKnowledge_GU was just chatting to some colleagues in the kitchen at work about why Essex doesn't have many big football clubs and it got me thinking. If you combined all the points from every league team in the ceremonial counties in England, which county would be on top?
— BoxBoron (@Rutland_Walker) January 8, 2019
What's the highest number of Welsh sides an English team have played in the FA Cup in one season?
— James (@jamesv_t) January 8, 2019
“Has any team managed to win the non-league double of National League champions and FA Trophy winners?” muses CB Kendall.
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