“Mark Walters’ middle name is Everton, despite playing umpteen times for Liverpool,” explains Alex Gowing. “Does any other footballer have a name (first, middle or surname) which was a direct rival of a club they played for?”
There have been a few, Alex. Let’s start in Italy: “Flavio Roma was a youth player at Lazio, winning the youth team championship. He was on Lazio’s books from 1992 to 1999 but was loaned out each season, and never made an appearance with the first team,” writes Jörg Michner. “He eventually moved to Piacenza as part of the deal that brought Simone Inzaghi to Lazio, who has remained at the club since then and is now the manager.” Sticking with Italy, Milan Skriniar is currently a rock at the back for Inter, whose rivals are … yeah, yeah, you get it.
Stephan Bird takes us to the East End of London. “Surely the canonical answer for this is Bobby Moore, full name: Robert Frederick Chelsea Moore.” If we move into international football, Mike England is a good shout. “He gained 44 caps for Wales and did play against the neighbours,” pipes up Tom Aldous. “And in Spain there is Salva Sevilla, who spent four seasons at Real Betis.” He scored against Sevilla in the Europa League in 2014, too.
There’s also defender Nicolò Napoli, who played for long-distance rivals Juventus, before Juan Cervantes takes us slightly off-piste. Gerard Piqué shares his name with the stadium of his big foe. His full name is: Gerard Piqué Bernabeu.”
And to broaden things out a little, we took a look at players with places in their names back in 2016.
The biggest title-winning points margin
“Liverpool have a 22-point advantage – what’s the biggest point margin for a title winning team?” tweets Andrés Mora.
“I’m sure I’m very late to the party in highlighting Celtic’s 30-point winning margin over Aberdeen in the 2016-17 season,” writes Harry Shave, who is actually the first and only reveller to turn up to this title party. “But I think it’s also worth an honourable mention to Vardar Skopje’s 1992-93 championship winning season. Although they only won the league by 21 points, that was in a season where only two points were awarded for a win. If that was converted to three points then Vardar would have finished 31 ahead of Sileks Kratovo.
“In the 2007-08 Botswana Premier League, Centre Chief finished 23 points ahead of Gaborone United,” Harry continues. And let’s not forget the fairytale story of PSG, who pipped Lyon and Monaco to the 2015-16 Ligue 1 crown by a paltry 31 points.
‘You’re going down in a massive stadium’
“Which team have been relegated with the biggest stadium?” wonders Doug Zanger.
Daniel Bickermann takes us to Germany to get the ball rolling. “Hertha Berlin were relegated in 2012. Their home ground is the Olympiastadion, which, since renovations in 2004, has a permanent capacity of 74,475 seats. They even stayed there for their stint in the 2. Bundesliga (instead of moving to the Poststadion as they did when they were relegated in the 80s).
“The runner-up might be Juventus, who were forcibly relegated after the Calciopoli scandal in 2006, while the Stadio delle Alpi had a capacity of 69,000 (although they usually only filled a third of it). Juve actually used the relegation to move out of the unloved and old stadium to their smaller-capacity traditional ground Stadio Olimpico Grande Torino, while building a new stadium on the grounds of the demolished Stadio delle Alpi, which they finished in 2011.”
Tom Aldous can trump both of those. “Fluminense play at the Maracanã which today has an official capacity of 78,838, but the highest ever gate there was 199,854 in 16 July 1950. In 1997 Fluminense were relegated to the Brazilian Serie B but worse was to come the following year when they were relegated again to Serie C. In 2000 they were promoted straight back to Serie A in a championship that is way too complicated for me to comprehend.”
In 1997 the Maracanã hosted a title decider between Cruzeiro and Villa Nova with an attendance of 132,834, but by 2000 the capacity was reduced to around 100,000. Speaking of Cruzeiro, they were relegated earlier this year, sparking a riot at their 62,000-capacity Mineirão ground – also the scene of Brazil’s 2014 World Cup humiliation.
But Michael St John-Mcalister thinks he has a winner in Scotland. “Queen’s Park must be in with a shout here. Hampden’s record attendance is 149,547 in April 1937. Queen’s Park, who have played there since 1903, were relegated in 1939 – as well as several other times – but that’s the closest relegation to the stadium’s record attendance, and capacity has been gradually reduced since 1945.”
Knowledge archive
“There’s a rumour that Roma have offered Alessandro Crescenzi in exchange for Catania releasing coach Vincenzo Montella,” wrote ZonalMarking in May 2012. “A player-manager swap deal? Would that be a first?”
In a word, no. “In the US, player swaps are more usual than in Europe, but player-manager swaps are just as rare,” writes Dan Ryazansky of MetroFanatic.com. “Nevertheless, in 2002, the MetroStars (now NY Red Bulls) sent striker Rodrigo Faria to the Chicago Fire for manager Bob Bradley. Faria was MLS Rookie of the Year in 2001 and led the Metros with 14 goals in all competitions in 2002. He didn’t last a full season for the Fire, was sent to San Jose, helped them to the 2003 MLS Cup, and was out of soccer soon after. Bradley coached the Metros for two and a half seasons, before being fired by the clown Alexi Lalas in one of the most idiotic moves in history of MLS.”
Can you help?
“Last week (5 February 2020) I achieved my second appearance in The Knowledge (of which I’m aware) with my answer regarding long-distance city namesake teammates,” begins Graeme Atkinson. “My first appearance came on 8 November 2001 with an answer regarding sitcom characters and the teams they support. That’s a gap between the two appearances of 6,663 days – can anybody beat that?”
Charlie Leddy-Owen
(@CLeddyOwen)Are there, or have there ever been, any other owners of an English football club who get an Oscar vote? @TheKnowledge_GU https://t.co/sOLn94oU3n
“Watching the Reading keepers warm up before the FA Cup game against Cardiff, Sam Walker, the starting keeper, let a few tame shots in. I wonder if there are any examples of a keeper (or any player for that matter) having been named as a starter, but then being replaced by a sub in the team for a reason other than an injury” – Tim Spargo.
Andy Brook
(@andybrook1)What is the latest point in a season that a team has topped the league and still gone on to be relegated? Obviously excluding huge points deductions, relegations for rule breaches etc.
“In all likelihood, New York City FC will host a match in the Concacaf Champions League at Red Bull Arena, the home ground of their rivals, the New York Red Bulls. Excluding groundshares, have there been scenarios in which a club has to play home matches at the ground of an arch-rival?” asks Rashaad Jorden.
Dale Morgan
(@dalermorgan)My brother spent last Tuesday morning at the Manor, once Oxford Utd’s ground and now a hospital, and the evening at the Kassam watching OUFC v Newcastle. What’s the best/most interesting way to spend a day at multiple grounds of a single team?!
Email your questions and answers to [email protected] or tweet @TheKnowledge_GU.