“What are the fewest number of appearances for a club to have resulted in a testimonial? Must be a back-up goalkeeper surely?” tweets SixStarsUK.
The time-honoured tradition of the testimonial is usually reserved for players who have reached a decade at a particular club, but not always.
“Norman Clarke made just four league and one League Cup appearance for Sunderland in the 1962-3 season before injury cut his career short aged 21,” writes John Briggs. “He was awarded a testimonial on 28 September 1966 when 11,000-plus spectators watched a 6-6 draw against a ‘Charlton’s XI’ (Jimmy Montgomery playing on the wing for Sunderland and scored two, Jack Charlton played in goal). Clarke returned to Ireland where he continued playing for Ballymena United and later scouted for Liverpool.”
A career-ending injury also led to John O’Neill being granted a testimonial with Norwich, despite playing little over half an hour for the club.
“John O’Neill, the Northern Irish centre-half, suffered a career-ending injury on his City debut in 1987 (after a decade at Leicester and a short spell at QPR),” writes Roger Whittaker. “Norwich gave him a testimonial, even though he only played 34 minutes for them before having his knee rearranged by John Fashanu.” Gary Lineker, then at Barcelona, scored a hat-trick in an 8-2 victory for O’Neill’s Select XI.
Fashanu later agreed to pay £70,000 in an out-of-court settlement after a high-profile court case in 1994 (during which O’Neill’s expert witness was Ken Aston, referee for Italy and Chile’s notorious “Battle of Santiago” at the 1962 World Cup), though O’Neill was left with £150,000 of legal costs.
Finally, here’s Stephen Curnow. “I accept that non-playing staff are rather against the spirit of the question, but nevertheless I would like to put forward the case of Tim Sheppard, Norwich City physiotherapist from 1980-2001. Tim’s tenure spanned some of the club’s greatest successes, he having been on the bench through two promotions, a Milk Cup win, a European campaign, two FA Cup semi-finals and the club’s three best league finishes. He also had a brief cameo in Fever Pitch. Tim was awarded a testimonial upon his departure, appearing for his solitary minutes against Celtic at Carrow Road, the visitors winning 4-2.”
Worst performance after winning player of the match
“Given that the player of the match is usually announced around the 89th minute, what is the worst-ever performance of one after the announcement has been made?” wonders Andrew Chambers.
Thanks to pundits either not paying enough attention or at the very least playing it safe, there are plenty of players who’ve been handed the gong having done little more than spend much of the 90 minutes struggling to get a touch of the ball only to poke home a key goal. However, for a fine example of this, we turn to one of the great games (and sliding doors moments) in English football history.
“I nominate Vince Bartram, who was announced as man of the match for Gillingham against Manchester City in the 1999 third tier play-off final with 89:30 on the clock and the Gills 2-0 up,” writes Ian Kay. “Within 20 seconds Kevin Horlock pulled a goal back and Paul Dickov got the equaliser in the 95th minute. Goalkeeper Bartram – Dickov’s best man, incidentally – didn’t save any penalties in the shootout either, as City won it 3-1 (despite Dickov’s penalty hitting both posts and coming back to him).”
"I was a lucky little boy to score that goal"
— EFL (@EFL) May 24, 2019
20 years on, @OfficialPDickov watches back as @ManCity overcome @TheGillsFC in the Play-Off Final.
Was this the most important goal in the City's history?#EFL | #EFLPlayOffs | #StepUp pic.twitter.com/G56qcXK7aj
Has a goalkeeper ever taken a corner?
“A lot of questions go unanswered,” begins Eugene Francis. “I feel this will be one: has a goalkeeper ever taken a corner?”
Step forward Javi Yegros of CD Pedrusco de Garbayuela in Spain, who not only took a corner but only went and scored from it as well.
“I imagine many goalkeepers have taken corners, but Yegros stands out,” writes Tim Dockery. “He had trained as an outfield player until an injury made him switch to exclusively playing in goal. With his team (in Extremadura’s local second division) down 1-0 and time running out, he went upfield to take his side’s free-kicks and eventually a couple of corners. On the last play of the game, he mis-hit his corner and a strong wind carried it directly into the goal to tie the game. It’s the only instance I know of where a goalie scored an Olympic goal.”
Ongoing work
In response to the question “What is the most common day of the week for the English league championship to be decided?”, fuzzybluerain started delving.
It’s an impressive work in progress, so if there are any gaps you can help fill in …
Wikipedia got me about halfway there, and so: 26 Saturday, 15 Sunday, 9 Monday, 3 Wednesday, and 2 on Tuesday, Thursday, and Friday
— claire 🌧️ ⚧ (@fuzzybluerain) March 9, 2022
if anyone who sees this wants to have a go! https://t.co/sq3wR67QM6
Knowledge archive
“In Roy Hattersley’s book, The Edwardians, there’s a photo described as ‘the Edwardian England football team’. They are wearing white shirts and dark shorts, but curiously the shirts bear the Union Jack rather than the flag of St George. Was the Union Jack generally used by England teams back then, or was it just a cock-up?” asked Matt Boyson in January 2008.
The union flag was the favoured emblem of English football teams until surprisingly recently. Footage of the 1966 World Cup shows Wembley dotted with red, white and blue flags, while tournament mascot World Cup Willie was a lion wearing a Union flag jersey. In 1982 Ron Greenwood’s England squad were still urging us to “hear the roar of the red white and blue” on official tune This Time, a seven-inch single with a union flag on the label.
It was only really at Euro 96 that the nation’s red-and-white fetish kicked in properly. Matthew Engel, writing in the Guardian, noted “this new cult of St George” after England’s exit in the semi-finals. Ten years later 27% of English adults bought a flag of St George during the 2006 World Cup. And a fat lot of good it did too.
Can you help?
“Are Chelsea the first football club to be hit with government sanctions?” asks Colin Babe.
Has any player ever played under managers from all 8 WC winning nations?
— Ben Janeson (@BenJaneson) March 15, 2022
I've found 4 players who are only missing one: Patrick M'Boma (missing a Spanish manager), Nicolas Anelka (missing a Uruguayan manager), Franco di Santo, and Eduardo Vargas (both missing a French manager).
“On Saturday Viking played Kongsvinger in the last 16 of the Norwegian cup,” writes Arne Bjarne Fjøsmælås. “Viking won 2-0, scoring after 28 seconds in the first half and 21 seconds in the second half. Of course, faster goals have been scored in both halves, but are there any better than a total of 49 seconds for both combined?”
@TheKnowledge_GU Just realised that if (big if I know!) #cpfc win the FA Cup this year they won't have left London, only travelling to Millwall and twice to Wembley- so what's the shortest distance a team have covered when winning it? And the furthest?
— Simon Pryor (@sipryor) March 14, 2022
“We know the Wright/Wright-Phillips family can run to three generations of professional footballers, but are there any examples of four or more generations?” wonders David Burrows.
Mateusz Klich often wears glasses when not playing but who was the last top flight player to take to the pitch in specs? Is it only specialist cases such as Edgar Davids? pic.twitter.com/rcuxcnvMI7
— Andy Brook 🏆 (@andybrook1) March 15, 2022
“With little over a month to go in their season, Craigmark Burntonians of the West of Scotland League have a chance of being promoted to tier six of the Scottish pyramid and a chance of being relegated to tier nine,” notes Doug Coyle. “Has any team been less certain of their status next season this late on?”
Christian Poulson and Florin Răducioiu have both played top flight football in England, Spain, Germany, France and Italy - 5 of the 8 World Cup winning countries. Has anyone played in more?
— DJ Chubby Bubble (@djchubbybubble) March 15, 2022
“With David de Gea picking the ball out of his net four more times against City, I’m wondering if he’s the keeper who’s conceded most goals in the Manchester derby,” muses Philip Grey. “It seems natural to wonder which keeper has conceded most goals in any derby (two clubs from the same city, not fake derbies that really aren’t derbies).”
• Mail us your questions or tweet @TheKnowledge_GU.
