“Which teams have won the league and had the fewest number of players in the PFA team of the year?” asks Chris Lambert. “Or vice versa, not winning the league (or indeed suffering relegation) and having the most number of players in?”
Just the sort of question for one of our loveable army of anoraks. Here’s Pete Tomlin: “Having been previously called an anorak by yourselves, this question is very exciting for me as it gives me another chance to look back at the archives. To answer the first part of the question, there have been six teams that have won the league but only had one player in the PFA team of the year. These were:
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1974-75: Derby County (Colin Todd)
- 1978-79: Liverpool (Kenny Dalglish)
- 1991-92: Leeds United (Gary McAllister)
- 1995-96: Manchester United (Gary Neville)
- 1997-98: Arsenal (Dennis Bergkamp)
- 2002-03: Manchester United (Paul Scholes)
“As for the teams that had the most players in the team of the year but did not win the title that season, there a couple with five representatives:
- 1997-98: Manchester United (Gary Neville, Gary Pallister, David Beckham, Nicky Butt, Ryan Giggs)
- 2002-03: Arsenal (Sol Campbell, Ashley Cole, Robert Pires, Patrick Vieira, Thierry Henry)
“Five players have been chosen for the team of the year even though their team was relegated in the same season. They are:
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1973-74: Mick Channon (Southampton)
- 1977-78: Trevor Brooking (West Ham)
- 1990-91: Mark Wright (Derby)
- 1992-93: Roy Keane (Nottingham Forest)
- 2004-05: Andrew Johnson (Crystal Palace)
“A few other statistics that may be of interest: in 2006-07 Manchester United had eight players in the team of the year, which is the most ever. Unsurprisingly, they also have the highest total amount of players in teams of the year since they began in 1973-74, with 97. Liverpool are second with 68 and Arsenal third with 66.” Pete, again, thank you.
The slow boat to Brazil
“Who were the last team to travel to a World Cup by boat?” tweets Jim Hilton.
This Joy of Six from 2010 can start us off:
You could hardly blame Italy for travelling to the 1950 World Cup finals in Brazil by boat. A year earlier, nearly every single one of their top players had been killed in the Superga air disaster, which had wiped out Il Grande Torino. The head of the Azzurri selection committee, Ferruccio Novo, was also president of Torino, only missing the flight by chance; he understandably lobbied for a journey by sea; he understandably got his way.
Problem was, the two-week cruise wasn’t particularly conducive to athletic improvement. So with little training done, Italy rolled off the boat on to dry land at São Paolo and, knackered and out of condition, immediately lost their first game to a Sweden side who were without all their best players in Gunnar Gren, Gunnar Nordahl and Nils Liedholm. The result effectively meant Italy fell at the very first hurdle, 90 minutes of red-faced effort ending their 16-year possession of Coupe Jules Rimet. A farce, you would say, though one which could be put down to an unfortunate and unavoidable combination of circumstances. Until you realise the players were then allowed to fly back home.
Apart that is from striker Benito Lorenzi, who preferred a month-long return by boat which only just got him back in time for pre-season training.
The Fifa museum site also features a history of squad journeys to the finals and recalls a boat-based element of South Korea’s 1954 odyssey: “On 10 June, they took a long train ride from Seoul to Busan, where they boarded a ship for Japan. In Tokyo, they found that the plane wasn’t big enough – so 12 players and the coach flew to Zurich via Calcutta (where there was a delay for propeller repairs) and Italy. The other nine members went to Bangkok to catch a flight to Europe on 13 June. That aircraft was also too small, and the story goes that two players would have been left behind if an English couple hadn’t given up their seats.” Knackered, they lost their opening match 9-0 to Hungary and their second to Turkey, 7-0. Then it was back on to the long plane home.
Reader Alex von Fintel points out that “the German team at the 2014 World Cup travelled to and from every match by boat. It was just a ferry across a bay, which was the only way to and from the hotel, but they did use a boat.”
Luck of the Aalborg
Last week we looked at teams both getting relegated at the end of the same match. But there’s another …
“In the Danish Superliga, both Randers FC and Esbjerg fB were relegated after drawing the last match of the 2010-11-season,” notes Jonas Okholm. “The match ended 2-2. With a win, either team could have stayed up. But Esbjerg equalised in the 89th minute and so, both teams went down.” Lucky old Aalborg stayed up despite losing.
Knowledge archive
“Has a player in a top league ever been injured by a linesman’s flag?” asked Chris Brooks in 2010. “How about a fourth official’s board? A whistle?”
Simon Garland stepped up with this story: “My story involves a player injuring a linesman but I’ll tell it anyway. Last season at Tranmere Rovers Michael Ricketts was warming up on the touchline when he collided with the linesman. Both were moving sideways at speed and neither had spotted the other. Ricketts was barely bothered, but the official was knocked out cold, such that [then-Tranmere manager and qualified physio] Les Parry ran up the pitch to stop the guy swallowing his tongue.”
• Take a trip to the font of nerdvana in our archive.
Can you help?
“Has there ever been an occasion where a major team has been disrupted by jury service, with either a manager or a player being called up during the season?” asks James Schofield.
This season's Southern League, to start with at least: King's Lynn Town second with 100pts … Weymouth fifth with 'only' 97. Any more for any more? https://t.co/i98g7sLL2K https://t.co/wrW19KKocl
— The Knowledge (@TheKnowledge_GU) April 30, 2018
“On Sunday FC United’s women’s team won their league with a 10-0 victory against Crewe,” writes Michael Leversha. “A few hours later, five members of the first team won the FA People’s Cup on penalties against Meridien. How many other teams have played in two trophy-winning games on the same day?”
@TheKnowledge_GU has any player ever been made to shave his beard off by a manager or chairman ?
— Sam Holden (@smahldone) April 28, 2018
What is the record for most places moved up (or down) by a team on the last day of the season?
— Kenn Drumm (@14Autumns) May 1, 2018
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