“After seeing Arsenal have to wear their away kit against Basel this week, my wife reminded me of her favourite forced kit change: a referee supposedly stopped the game to make a mascot change his shorts,” emailed TJ Gerlach last week. “She says it was West Ham, but also said it was a lion mascot (so, possibly Villa, Boro or Chelsea?). I can’t find any record online. Any idea when and where this occurred?”
On 19 March 2005 relegation-threatened Norwich City travelled north to the Reebok Stadium and a meeting with Sam Allardyce’s Bolton Wanderers. Allardyce’s side were flying high while the Canaries were on their way to relegation, but the match was a notable one for the Wanderers mascot, Lofty the Lion. The Bolton News takes up the tale:
“The visiting Norwich players complained that Lofty was affecting their concentration, claiming he looked exactly the same as the Wanderers players. The Bolton mascot was cheering on the Whites from the side of the Reebok pitch during the game as he has done at every home match for years.
“But the Norwich players had a problem with him wearing the same white shorts and socks as the home players, saying that it made him indistinguishable from Sam Allardyce’s men. You would have thought the enormous lion’s head and giant mane would have given them a clue.
“Lofty was banished to an invisible corner of the stadium before returning to cheer on the Whites for the rest of the game – after a change of shorts and socks.”
It didn’t do Norwich much good. Stelios Giannakopoulos scored the only goal of the game in a 1-0 win for Wanderers.
Everyday is like Zibo Sunday
“We all know about Sheffield Wednesday and, to a lesser extent, Abergavenny Thursdays,” wrote George McSorley last week. “There is also a team in China called Zibo Sunday. Has there been a team for every day of the week?”
Let’s begin with an explanation of the little-known Abergavenny Thursdays. “In Wales, Abergavenny Thursdays represent the tip of a substantial iceberg of clubs named after Thursday at the turn of the 1900s,” writes Craig Owen Jones. “Many Welsh towns had half-day closing on a Thursday, a circumstance that led to the formation of countless clubs. In north Wales alone there was a Rhyl Thursdays, a Denbigh Thursdays, and a Prestatyn Thursdays (or Thursday, depending on which source you read); my grandfather kept goal for the latter. In the south, a Thursday League was even formed in 1909; it was still in existence in 1914, and included clubs such as Merthyr Thursdays and Dowlais Thursdays.
Similarly Sheffield Wednesday were the offshoot of The Wednesday Cricket Club, so named because Wednesday was the day off of the local tradesmen who formed the club. Zibo Sunday’s roots are rather less clear, though they do appear to have existed and taken part in China’s cup competition. Briefly. At some point.
But what of the rest of the week? Monday FC, based in the small Danish town of Vipperod (population: 2,267), are recognised by the Danish FA, though they don’t compete at a particularly high level. “Remember that it costs a case of beer, if you have signed up for [a match] and do not show up,” says their website.
Bristol’s Cutters Friday FC currently sit bottom of the Division One East of the Somerset County League, having lost four of their five matches so far this season.
All of which leaves Tuesday and Saturday for which we can do little better than point to Shepherds Tuesday FC – “Sunday League’s staunchest advocates of wing-backs” – and the AS Nancy ultras group FC Saturday.
Unbeaten at home, unimpressive away
“The Daily Express is predicting the outcome of the league every week,” wrote Alex Potter last week. “This week, its prediction is that Leicester will finish the season unbeaten at home but will only get a point away all season. It made me laugh a little and then wonder: has anything like that ever happened before?”
In short, yes. For the longer version, here’s Liam McGuigan: “You can begin by looking at the Guardian’s own article on the Nigerian Premier League from 2013.
“Nobody picked up just one point away from home, but two clubs went better than that - Kaduna United losing all 19 away matches while having 17 wins and two draws at home, and Gombe United also managing 18 wins and a draw at home opposite 19 away defeats.”
“The overall trend of home invincibility and away vulnerability is not new in the NPL, where travelling teams face perilous challenges relating to violent crowds, questionable refereeing and, indeed, travel itself,” writes Paul Doyle in that very piece. “Arriving just before kick-off after long road trips, often on hazardous surfaces, is far from ideal preparation for players. And they do not always arrive. Last season two matches were postponed when first Sunshine Stars and then Wikki Tourists were robbed on their way to games. Mostly, of course, teams do make it to grounds – and that is when they must contend with fans and referees.”
Of recent note in Europe, Sevilla had an impressively skewed home/away record in Spain last season, with a P19 W14 D1 L4 record at the Ramón Sánchez Pizjuán and a P19 W0 D9 L10 record away from home.
Leaving it late
“Newcastle’s comeback against Norwich last week – has a team ever come back to win after scoring their equaliser as late as the 95th minute?” asked Rob Smyth last week. “I know there have been two in injury-time before but I’ve never seen that.”
Dwight Gayle’s equaliser for Newcastle four minutes and 50 seconds into injury time remains, narrowly, the latest leveller we’ve found for a team that has gone on to win, but there are several other late revivals of note.
“On 23 November 2002 I was at Field Mill (my preferred game having been postponed) to see Mansfield Town take on Bristol City,” writes Justin Horton. “The hosts, 4-2 up late on, still led 4-3 going into the fifth minute of injury time when a City goal – to my recollection, four minutes and 33 seconds into time added on – silenced the home crowd. There was still time enough for City’s Christian Roberts to grab a winner in the 96th minute.”
In a similar vein in January this year Barrow led Tranmere 3-1 going into injury-time only to contrive to lose 4-3. Lois Maynard brought Rovers back into it in the 90th minute, Jeff Hughes made it 3-3 in the 92nd and Jake Kirby grabbed the winner in the 95th.
“Arsenal took the lead in the 98th minute of their game against Liverpool in April 2011 only to concede an equaliser in the 102nd minute,” notes James Byrne. “Has anyone ever taken the lead later than the 98th minute and still failed to win (excluding matches that have gone to extra-time)?”
Knowledge archive
“After Di Canio and Holloway departed relegation-threatened clubs relatively early in the season, it seems as if the first action for clubs threatened by the drop is to change the manager,” wrote Matt Cooke in 2013. “In the Premier League era how many clubs have been relegated without resorting to changing their manager at any point during the season?”
There’s nothing the Knowledge enjoys more than an in-depth trawl through the dusty annals of football history but on this occasion readers Pete Tomlin and Colin Owens have done all the leg work. Thanks to both.
Here’s the full list of relegated teams who did not change manager during the season:
1992-93: Crystal Palace (Steve Coppell), Middlesbrough (Lennie Lawrence), Nottingham Forest (Brian Clough),
1993-94: Sheffield United (Dave Bassett), Oldham Athletic (Joe Royle), Swindon Town (John Gorman),
1994-95: Crystal Palace (Alan Smith)
1995-96: Manchester City (Alan Ball), QPR (Ray Wilkins),
1996-97: Sunderland (Peter Reid), Middlesbrough (Bryan Robson),
1997-98: Bolton Wanderers (Colin Todd), Barnsley (Danny Wilson),
1998-99: Charlton Athletic (Alan Curbishley),
1999-00: Watford (Graham Taylor)
2000-01: Manchester City (Joe Royle), Coventry City (Gordon Strachan),
2001-02: Ipswich Town (George Burley),
2002-03: West Bromwich Albion (Gary Megson),
2003-04: Leicester City (Micky Adams), Wolverhampton Wanderers (Dave Jones),
2004-05: Crystal Palace (Iain Dowie), Norwich City (Nigel Worthington),
2005-06: Birmingham City (Steve Bruce), West Bromwich Albion (Bryan Robson),
2006-07: Sheffield United (Neil Warnock), Watford (Aidy Boothroyd)
2007-08: Reading (Steve Coppell),
2008-09: Middlesbrough (Gareth Southgate), West Bromwich Albion (Tony Mowbray),
2009-10: NONE
2010-11: Birmingham City (Alex McLeish), Blackpool (Ian Holloway),
2011-12: Bolton Wanderers (Owen Coyle), Blackburn Rovers (Steve Kean),
2012-13: Wigan Athletic (Roberto Martínez).
2013-14: NONE
2014-15: Hull City (Steve Bruce), Burnley (Sean Dyche)
2015-16: Norwich City (Alex Neil)
- For thousands more questions and answers take a trip through the Knowledge archive.
Can you help?
“The only connection between ghosts and football that I can think of is the Stanley Holloway monologue ‘With Her Head Tucked Underneath Her Arm’,” begins Robin Clarke. “It contains this verse:
The sentries think that it’s a football,
That she carries in.
And when they’ve had a few they shout,
‘Is Ars’nal going to win?’
They think it’s Alec James,
Instead of poor old Ann Boleyn,
With her head tucked underneath her arm
“Yet there must be enough football-related ghost stories to fill an encyclopaedia. I would like to hear them. Ghosts provided a useful social function. Centuries before police forces and investigative journalists ghost stories were one means of keeping local miscarriages of justice in the public eye. I suspect that certain countries are well-stocked with football-related ghosts.”
“I was studying David Speedie’s Wiki page because I was supposed to be working, and it seems to suggest that he played for four teams during the 1992-93 season – Southampton. Birmingham, West Brom and West Ham,” reports Adam Webster. “I think four teams in one season is a lot, but is it a record?”
“I wonder if what I witnessed at Sixfields last weekend is some sort of record,” wonders Nathan Spencer. “With the score between Northampton and Bristol Rovers 2-2 in the 89th minute, and with Northampton defender Gabriel Zakuani already on a booking, the ref went off injured and was replaced by one of his assistants. By my reckoning the replacement ref booked Zakuani again and sent him off within 10 seconds of starting his short stint on the whistle. Is this the fastest red card involving a substituted referee?”
“Just a short one from me,” claims Paul Moroz. “We’re all comfortable with ‘hitting the woodwork’, but when was the last time goal frames were actually made from wood? As an addendum, presumably wooden posts and crossbars were flat-fronted, plank arrangements, as opposed to their modern-day cylindrical cousins? Did the change of shape require a change of legislation? Yours curiously.”
Send your questions and answers to knowledge@theguardian.com or tweet @TheKnowledge_GU.
