“With Liverpool having done the double over seven out of eight teams they’ve played twice in this season’s Premier League, they could end up doing the double against 17 out of 19 opponents. What’s the record for the most doubles over everyone else in a league?” asks Derek McHugh.
“In England, the most doubles achieved in a season is 13 out of 19 – set by Manchester City in 2017-18 and 2018-19,” writes James Clarke. “Liverpool managed 12 out of 19 last season – tied for second place with a few others, and making them the team to have the most doubles without winning the league. An honourable mention, also on 13 doubles but in a 22-team league, are Doncaster Rovers in the third tier in 1946-47.
“Looking to other major leagues, the target is set by Barcelona in 2012-13 and Juventus in 2013-14, both achieving 14 doubles over 19 opponents. In a league of only 18 teams Bayern Munich are also worth mentioning. In 2012-13 they doubled over 13 of 17 opponents (76%; compared to 74% for Juve and Barça). However, if we are moving to percentage terms then Rangers are the champions, having won every match in the 1898-99 season, (obviously) doing the double over all nine of their opponents.”
Daniel Seppings has also crunched the numbers on this question and has compiled a handy table. “The list of 13 or more is shown below. Depressingly, all of the teams in this list have achieved the feat in the last 10 years. So, an impressive feat in prospect by Liverpool or just another sign of the apocalypse?”
Goalkeepers ordered to have a mid-match makeover
“In the friendly between Spartak Moscow and Pakhtakor a goalkeeper had to change his kit at half-time as it clashed with the opponents’ colours. Has such a makeover ever happened in a competitive match?” asks Хардкуна Матата.
“Possibly the most infamous case of a goalkeeper’s kit clashing with the opposition happened in January 2000, when Arsenal took on Manchester United at Old Trafford,” offers Derek Robertson. “Resplendent in their yellow away kit, no one realised that Mark Bosnich’s yellow top was almost exactly the same shade, something that the commentator Martin Tyler alluded to when the teams lined up in the tunnel.
“By the time they’d made it on to the pitch, the referee Paul Durkin decided he agreed. Cue farcical scenes as Bosnich started gesturing to the bench for an alternative, only to be told they didn’t have one, and nor was there one in the changing room. Legend has it that someone was dispatched to open the club shop and find something suitable. Either way, after a while a plain, light grey top was produced for Bosnich to wear, and the game kicked off. By half-time, United had found something more suitable, and Bosnich appeared for the second half in an old green and blue number (I think it was the previous season’s goalkeeper kit). Some footage of this nonsense can be seen here; the Guardian minute-by-minute report is here.”
It would appear yellow is a problem. Here’s Alasdair Brooks: “None other than the late great Gordon Banks changed out of his yellow jersey at half-time during England’s first match of the 1970 World Cup against the yellow-clad Romanians. He switched into a spare short-sleeved, red England away kit.”
“Another incident came in 2001,” adds Denis Hurley, “when Arsenal goalkeeper Richard Wright wore yellow for a League Cup game against Manchester United, who were in gold. Wright had to switch to blue for the second half.”
Derbies played across the most divisions
“Which local derby or long-standing rivalry has been played across the most divisions?” wonders Mukhtar.
The Steel City derby has been played across the top three divisions in England, with both Sheffield United and Sheffield Wednesday having had mixed fortunes over the past four decades. It has been played in the third tier four times, twice in the 2011-12 season, and twice in 1979-80, when Wednesday’s 4-0 win at Hillsborough on Boxing Day drew a bumper a crowd of 49,309. The last time it was played in the top flight was 22 January 1994. They have also played each other in three different cup competitions.
Paul Haynes has written in with a division-spanning rivalry that can knock the Sheffield clubs’ set-to into a cocked hat. The south Wales derby has been played across an incredible six divisions and 11 competitions in total, if we include cups. “Cardiff v Swansea has been played across all four professional divisions (first time: top flight 2013; second tier 1929; third tier 1985; fourth tier 1986), and two divisions of non-league football (first time: Southern League Division One 1919; Southern League Division Two 1912), as well as the Welsh Cup (1913), the FA Cup (1913), the League Cup (1985), the EFL Trophy (1986), and the FAW Cup (1999).”
Knowledge archive
“Is it true that a Newcastle player invented the windscreen wiper?” asked a disbelieving Warren Rose in March 2009.
Almost, Warren. Football can indeed claim for itself a part in the invention of the windscreen wiper, but it was a Newcastle fan rather than a player who came up with the idea. It’s now more than 100 years since Gladstone Adams drove his Darracq car to Crystal Palace Park for the 1908 FA Cup final between Wolves and his beloved Newcastle. Second Division Wolves ran out 3–1 winners, handing Newcastle their third final defeat in four years. It’s fair to suggest then that Adams wasn’t in the best of moods on the journey home. And his disposition would have deteriorated further when he found himself in the middle of an unseasonable snowstorm. Back then, windscreens had to be cleared by hand and it was on one of these frosty-fingered breaks by the side of the road that Adams came up with the idea of a mechanised blade that could run while the car was in motion.
Can you help?
Many were predicting Liverpool would win the league unbeaten before they lost to Watford, who are the other 'almost invincibles'? IE, who has gone furthest into a league season (England or elsewhere) before experiencing their first defeat?
— Colm Kearns (@ColmLearns) March 3, 2020
“Liverpool appear destined for the Premier League title. This makes me wonder how many title-winning sides have featured players who have been relegated with former clubs, and if any can beat Liverpool’s six: Gini Wijnaldum (Newcastle); James Milner (Leeds); Andy Robertson (Hull); Xherdan Shaqiri (Stoke); Adam Lallana (relegated to League One with Southampton); and Harvey Elliott (Fulham)?” asks Ike Proud.
“A quarter of the teams in the Europa League round of 32 had Portuguese managers,” writes Peter Van. “The four Portuguese sides all had local managers, plus Shakthar (Luis Castro), Roma (Paulo Fonseca), Olympiakos (Pedro Martins) and of course Wolves (NES). Is eight managers of the same nationality a record in such an advanced stage of European competition?”
College Europa is not having a good season. Have there ever been any cases of a top-flight European team ending their season with ALL their matches lost?
— Pablo Miguez (@pablomiguezdm) March 3, 2020
Excluding walk-overs, etc. pic.twitter.com/hqkcvklctX
“In the Real Madrid-Manchester City game each team had a Mendy at left-back. How often do two opposing teams have players with the same surname playing In the same position?” asks Jack Humphrey.
@TheKnowledge_GU Do Fortuna Düsseldorf fans sing Carl Orff's Oh Fortuna. And whether they do or not, what is the most high brow chant in football?
— Jon May (@JonMay114) February 28, 2020
I wonder if China's women's football Tokyo 2020 qualifier is a record for most rescheduled set of fixtures ever. Might be one for the @TheKnowledge_GU
— Jonathan White (@jmawhite) February 27, 2020
Email your questions and answers to knowledge@theguardian.com or tweet @TheKnowledge_GU.
