Plus; the longest span between being in teams of the year, and more coloured boots. Send your questions and answers to knowledge@theguardian.com and follow us on Twitter

CHANGING HIS MIND

Asks Dave Jones: "I was at the Sheffield United v Brentford match, in which the Blades' Kieron Freeman was wrongly sent off, and a penalty wrongly awarded to Brentford, only for referee Eddie Ilderton to then revoke both decisions after consulting with his linesman and award a drop ball in the penalty area. Come half-time the question everyone on the Kop was asking was: has this ever happened before? Can the Knowledge help?"

The Knowledge can most certainly help, if not on an incident as specific as that, but on the issue of referees changing their minds. In fact, the Knowledge from November 2003 can give a few examples, such as Spanish referee José María García-Aranda, who awarded a penalty against Liverpool's Markus Babbel in their Uefa Cup (ask your slightly older brother) match against Roma in 2001, only to not just change his mind, but deny he had even given the decision in the first place.

A more recent example, and one slightly closer to the scenario at Sheffield United, came just this season, when Andy D'Urso awarded Exeter City a penalty during injury-time of their game against Morecambe after David Wheeler fell to the turf. Something of a stramash ensued as the Shrimps protested, during which Morecambe's Jamie Devitt was sent off for head-butting an opponent, only for D'Urso to have a word with his assistant, change his mind about the penalty and instead book Wheeler for diving. "I have just watched it on HD and it was a definite penalty," said Exeter's cravat-sporting boss Paul Tisdale afterwards. "We get the rough end of things and it is just not fair. We try and play to the rules and we are seen as a soft touch, so referees and linesmen can make these decisions."

Examples of referees changing their minds over red cards are a little rarer but one came back in 2006 during the big Caribbean Premier League clash between Youth Milan and Caribsurf Paradise, when the referee Mark Bob Forde showed a red card to Youth Milan's captain Michael Forde (no relation, hopefully), before having a little think and then downgrading it to a yellow. According to Barbados newspaper the Nation: "There was no contact between the two opposing players but referee Forde, who was not feeling well and even had to stop the game at one stage to leave the field, pulled the dreaded red card from his pocket." As an aside, Forde was given a warning in the 2011 Fifa investigation into bribery that led to Mohamed Bin Hammam being banned for life.

Can you think of any more extreme examples of referees doing the reverse ferret? Email knowledge@theguardian.com.

THE BIGGEST GAP

"Kicking around on some French football sites, I noticed that Jérôme Rothen, a winger mostly known for his days at PSG, was in Ligue 2's team of the year in 1999-2000, and again in 2011-12," mused Eric Devin last week. "This stretch between being named to one all-division team and then another at the same level must surely be a record? Of note here are Wayne Bridge (2001-02 Premier League, 2012‑13 Championship) and Michael Carrick, (2003-04 Championship, 2012-13 Premier League) but extensive Wikipedia trawling finds no such gap between appearances at the same level in Italy, Spain, England or Germany. Is Monsieur Rothen the holder of this somewhat dubious record?"

Warren Lyons was straight in, writing: "I'm afraid Eric Devin didn't look close enough. Chris Turner, a goalkeeper who played for Sunderland and Manchester United in the 1980s and won the League Cup with Sheffield Wednesday in 1991, was in the PFA Third Division team of the year in 1978-79 during his first spell with Wednesday. Thirteen seasons later, playing for Leyton Orient at the tail-end of his career, he was again named in the 1991-92 Third Division PFA team of the year.

"Gareth Ainsworth, the current Wycombe manager, can go one better. He was named in the Third Division (or fourth-tier) PFA Team of the Year in 1996-97 when playing for Lincoln City. Fast forward 14 seasons, and a 37-year-old Gareth Ainsworth found himself in the League Two (fourth tier) PFA 2010-11 team of the year while playing for Wycombe Wanderers."

Other similar gaps saw Ian Harte selected for the 2011-12 League One XI, 12 years after appearing in the Premier League side, Lee Hughes made the cut for the 1998-99 First Division (second tier) team then the 2009-10 League Two side, while Kenny Sansom (who holds the record for most appearances in PFA teams of the year with 11) first appeared in the 1976-77 Third Division side, and was still around for the 1986-87 First Division (top tier) team.

However, Mikkel Orlovski has perhaps the definitive suggestion: "On Eric's question, I had to check Ryan Giggs's record. After he was repositioned as playmaker a few years ago, he's had somewhat of a renaissance and was duly awarded with a spot in the 2008-09 PFA Team of the Year. His first appearance in the selection was as an explosive winger way back in 1992-93."

Can anyone beat a gap of 16 years? Drop us a line at the usual address.

BOOT-ALICIOUS (2)

Last week we thought that the first instance of yellow boots on the football pitch came in November 1996, but as ever you resourceful lot have dipped further back into the archives …

Simon Lindberg writes: "In Sweden yellow boots have been a bad omen since Kennet Andersson wore them and missed a penalty in a World Cup qualifier against Austria at home in October 1996. We lost the game 1-0 and didn't qualify for France as a direct result of that missed penalty. And the curse continued: "Funny thing (or unfunny if you're Swedish) is that 13 years later the current saviour of Arsenal, Kim Källström, missed a penalty in a World Cup qualifier against Denmark at home. We lost that game 1-0, making us miss a major tournament for the first time since 1998. It was also the first time Sweden lost in a qualifier at our National Stadium since that game in October 1996. Kim was, of course, wearing yellow boots. After Kim's miss Kennet Andersson commented that yellow boots should be forbidden in the Swedish national team. What Zlatan said as he watched Kim miss the penalty is unclear but there might have been some profanity."

Last week's suggestion for the pioneer of the luminous footwear was Attila Sekerlioglu, an Austrian midfielder who turned out a few times for St Johnstone, and the man himself has been in touch to confirm exactly when he donned the luminous footwear. He saved it for a special occasion, specifically the Scottish Challenge Cup final on 3 November 1996, but alas his shiny feet couldn't guide the Saints to a win – Stranraer beat them 1-0 to lift the trophy. "My boot sponsor 'Basry Sports' gave them to me," says Attila, revealing that remarkably, in the football dressing room where "banter" and "stick" rule all, his team-mates and even opponents didn't really give him a hard time. "I was the only one I thought. If I think back, Paolo Di Canio wore a green and a white boot at Celtic, but a year later maybe." Speaking of which: "Di Canio wore different ones all the time," parps up Stephen Hart. "Pantofola d'Oro were the company who made them. He wore a golden pair as a one-off on 26 December 1996 away to Aberdeen, scored the winner, and ran to the camera."

But we can go back further. "Enzo Scifo wore red boots at USA 94," notes Ben Keane, who provides this image as evidence. Any more for any more?

KNOWLEDGE ARCHIVE

"I know Steve Nicol did it in 1987, but has a defender ever scored a hat-trick in the top flight?" asked Daniel Kee way back in December 2004.

The short answer Daniel is no, neither before or after you posed that question nearly a decade ago. The Knowledge covered hat-trick scoring full-backs a few months ago, and as it says there the closest we can give you in the top flight is utility man Steve Watson, who spent much of his time playing at the back and bagged three for Everton in their 4-0 win over Leeds in 2003 (reported rather forlornly by the BBC as "Everton rout sad Leeds"), but he lined up in midfield that day.

As did Nicol, a defender by trade when scoring three for Liverpool against Newcastle in 1987, so the last man to get a treble from defence in the English top flight was his Liverpool team-mate Gary Gillespie, who scored thrice against Birmingham back in 1986. Earlier that month Alvin Martin took home the match ball as West Ham spanked Newcastle 8-1, and even more absurdly those three goals were scored against three different goalkeepers. Starting keeper Martin Thomas, already carrying a shoulder injury, conceded Martin's first and then three others before throwing in the towel at half-time, with midfielder Chris Hedworth taking over between the sticks. However, Hedworth barely had time to let in Martin's second before cracking his collarbone, meaning one Peter Beardsley had to take the gloves, just in time for Martin to complete his hat-trick from the penalty spot.

"That was a special moment," Martin told Small Talk a couple of years ago. "You probably recognise the implication of it later on. I remember scoring a goal and then the keeper going off, and then I got another one, but I couldn't remember if I'd scored them against different keepers. I didn't know that until the crowd started shouting my name when we got a penalty at 7-1. Ray Stewart picked the ball up and the crowd started shouting my name, so they were aware that I was on a hat-trick against three different goalkeepers."

In more recent times, Werder Bremen's Brazilian defender Naldo scored a hat-trick in their 6-2 victory over Eintracht Frankfurt in 2006, Fernando Hierro achieved the feat for Real Madrid back in 2002, while spicy set-piece specialist Sinisa Mihajlovic scored three free-kicks for Lazio against Sampdoria in 1998. Quite a player, was Mihajlovic – it's just a shame about, well, you know, all that other stuff.

CAN YOU HELP?

"After Nike pushed up the price of an England shirt so far beyond the point of being acceptable it's almost laughable at £90, could you map the evolution of the pricing for the England kit? There must have been some very, very steep jumps in its cost over the last 20 years, for example" – Josh Fleming.

"Has any team ever gone an entire season with just draws? No losses, no wins just draws?" – Leon McLeod.

"As a child I watched Serbia & Montenegro v Tunisia at the 2004 Olympic football tournament, when a penalty for Tunisia was repeated by the referee seven or eight times," tweets grbomadjija. "Unfortunately I can't find video but I remember we lost 3-2. Is it the record for repeating one penalty?"

"Could you help settle an argument between myself (Liverpool) and my friend (Manchester United). Basically the discussion was, in a title run-in, are you better playing a decent mid-table team with nothing to play for, or a poor team playing for this Premier League status? Would love to see statistically which scenario throws up more upsets" – Tony O'Sullivan.

"Thibaut Courtois has been on loan at Atlético Madrid for almost three seasons and will possibly join for a fourth. Have any other players matched or even beaten him on being on loan at the same club for consecutive seasons?" – Henry Foster.

"Has there been a Knowledge on the player with the most different loan moves throughout career?" tweets Daniel Storey. Not quite. So you know what to do.

"Which match had the most goals in minutes which are prime numbers?" tweets Rob de Hair.

Send your questions and answers to knowledge@theguardian.com.