“Spain’s Julen Lopetegui won his first competitive match in charge 8-0,” tweets Daniel Storey. “Has this ever been beaten?”
If you are referring to goals scored rather than winning margin, then the Spurs legend Bill Nicholson can trump Lopetegui. In his first match as manager, in 1958, Spurs trounced Everton 10-4. Knowledge reader Peter Lewis remembers that game, principally because he was there.
We don’t think Alex Lyon was at the 1908 Olympics, but he does have chapter and verse on the subject. “Charlie Williams managed the first matches of the Danish national team when they travelled to London for the 1908 Olympics, his first stint as manager of any team,” writes Alex. “His first match in charge was against France B, which Denmark won 9-0. The second was against France A and, thanks to six goals from Sophus Nielsen and four from Vilhelm Wolfhagen in the second half alone, the final score reached the eye-watering tally of 17-1. If we exclude matches against ‘B’ teams, and friendlies, this might very well be the high bar.”
Can anyone raise the bar? If so, email knowledge@theguardian.com or tweet @TheKnowledge_GU.
Get with the programmes
“Can any football programme experts say approximately what percentage of programmes are typically sold on any matchday and how often clubs fully sell out?” muses Scott Sumner. “Also, what happens to any leftovers?”
“As programme editor for my local non-league side, our usual rule of thumb is that you’ll generally sell one programme for every three spectators,” emails Stephen Yoxall. “Many is the time an irate fan has approached me asking if I can source a copy of a sold-out programme, and I do my best. Complimentary programmes have to be provided to both teams, the boardroom and any visiting press. A small number for a club like Manchester United, but a much larger percentage of the print run for a non-league team printing 90 programmes for a gate of 270. Therefore, margins at this level are extremely tight, so finding the balance between satisfying demand and ensuring we don’t lose money on them is delicate. As a result, unsold copies are rare, but usually go into the club shop. You’d be surprised by the number of people attending non-league games just to have a look through the programme shelf.”
Here’s Rob McEvoy, himself a former sports club manager: “The standard ratio that clubs are looking to sell is between one in three to one in four of the attendance buying a programme. If your average crowd is 6,000 you would aim to sell 1,500-2,000. For big games, cup finals, games that may be historical, it may increase dramatically, but as a standard, that is it.
“A club will sell out if it misjudges the crowd basically, or there is a change in the normal ratio. Generally most clubs do not sell out as minimum order quantities arranged by the commercial department in exchange for sponsorship will lead to more being printed than sold. In fact, most clubs just aim to break even on sales with their programme and use it as an add on for sponsors. What happens to unused programmes? Well, they will stay in a box on the floor until they are signed and used as giveaways, or thrown into file x.”
Shortest club careers (2)
Last week we looked at the shortest club careers, with one-second wonder Nick Culkin of Manchester United leading the way. Culkin came on, but at least he kicked the ball. The same could not be said of Moses Ashikodi during his time at Rangers. “In April 2006, Moses Ashikodi came off the bench for Rangers at Celtic Park in injury-time,” notes Robbie Devine. “The referee immediately blew the full-time whistle. He never appeared in a Rangers shirt again.” And never touched the ball in one.
Knowledge archive
“In the recent match between FC Twente and Vitesse in the Dutch league, Vitesse took off their left-back Haim Megrelishvili after only six minutes due to his poor defending, as the manager later explained,” Rutger Ijzermans told us in 2008. “Is this the quickest ever substitution that was not due to injury?”
It’s a decent effort Rutger, but we’ve got two quick-fire substitutions that can beat six minutes. For the first we head to the Wolds and Sincil Bank, where both Scott Walden and Harry Winckworth have highlighted the case of Lincoln City’s Grant Brown.
Harry picks up the tale on a drab Tuesday night in March 1998 when Swansea City were the visitors. “It proved to be John Beck’s last game in charge of Lincoln,” he writes. “To illustrate how Beck was losing the plot, his original lineup that night contained four centre-backs, two full-backs, two nut-job midfielders and two strikers. After just two minutes of play, Beck replaced the club captain and Imps record-appearance holder Grant Brown – a central defender – with the enigmatic and speedy midfielder Steve Brown, to the cat-calls of a bemused home support.
“I remember Beck claiming afterwards that he’d been expecting Swansea to play three up front. However, the Swans lined up with a five-man midfield, much to Beck’s surprise, so rather than push one of our six defenders higher up the pitch, he instead made the earliest tactical substitution I ever recall seeing.” Scott has a more conspiracist explanation, suggesting rather tentatively that the early substitution may have been to embarrass the defender after a previous poor performance.
Andreas Marienborg, though, can just about trump that. “In 2006 Bryne played Tromsdalen in the Norwegian First Division,” he writes. “Bryne were going through a horrible period injury-wise and had almost no defenders available in their senior squad. But because of Norwegian regulations they weren’t allowed to play their unlicensed under-18 players from start, though they were allowed to put them on the bench. So the injured striker Håvard Sakariassen started as a central defender, only to be substituted after one minute so that young Oddgeir Salte could get his debut.”
• For thousands more questions and answers take a trip through the Knowledge archive.
Can you help?
“Which team has the worst record for shirt sponsors that after their name appears then see a dramatic downturn in business, ie: which teams are the kiss of death for their sponsor?” wonders Mukhtar Khan.
“The 2016 DFL-Supercup win puts the number of countries that Carlo Ancelotti has won a domestic trophy to five (Italy, England, France, Spain, Germany). Not counting continental or intercontinental club competitions, has any coach won a domestic trophy in more countries” asks Chai.
“On Saturday, Dundee United keeper Cammy Bell saved three first-half penalties from three different Dunfermline players. Excluding penalty shootouts, has any keeper bettered this?” asks Craig McLaughlin.
“We’re all well aware of eccentric goalkeepers such as José Luis Chilavert taking free-kicks and penalties, but has a goalkeeper ever taken a long throw-in or a corner kick in the opposition half?” ponders Scott Sumner.
Send your questions and answers to knowledge@theguardian.com or tweet @TheKnowledge_GU. And be sure to join us next Wednesday for the first ever live edition of The Knowledge …
