“Now that Frank Lampard is Chelsea head coach, what other examples are there of a team – club or country – being managed by their all-time top goalscorer?” asks Masai Graham.

It’s no surprise that there are tens of answers to this question, given the tendency of senior suits to put a legend in charge and blindly hope everything will be OK. It’s an approach that has been tried, with mixed results, from Glasgow to Greenock, Milan to Madrid.

Thanks to all of you who sent in answers, from which we have produced this semi-comprehensive, in-no-particular-order list:

Michel Platini* (France, 1988-92)

Neil Harris (Millwall, 2015- )

Oleg Blokhin (Dynamo Kyiv, 2012-14)

José Cardozo (Toluca, 2013-16)

Alfredo Di Stéfano* (Real Madrid, 1982-84 and 1990-91)

Alan Shearer (Newcastle, 2009)

César* (Barcelona, 1963-64)

Andriy Shevchenko (Ukraine, 2016- )

Alan Murphy (Galway United, 2018- )

Giuseppe Meazza (Internazionale, 1946-48, 1955-56, 1957)

Allan McGraw (Greenock Morton, 1985-97)

Ally McCoist (Glasgow Rangers, 2011-14)

John Caulfield (Cork City, 2013-19)

Fernando Morena (Peñarol, 1988, 2005)

Angel Labruna (River Plate, 1968-70, 1975-81)

Luis Aragonés (Atletico Madrid, 1974-80, 1982-87, 1991-93, 2001-03) * Platini, Di Stéfano and César are no longer their team’s leading scorer

Enemy lines, multiple times

“Has any manager taken charge of more rival clubs than Steve Bruce?” asked Derek Roberton. “Now that he has taken the reins at Newcastle United, I make that six clubs/three rivalries: Newcastle and Sunderland, Aston Villa and Birmingham, Sheffield United and Sheffield Wednesday. Can anyone beat that?”

Harry Redknapp can’t beat it, but he had a good go during his career. He managed the three big south coast clubs – Bournemouth, Portsmouth and Southampton – and at one stage went from Portsmouth to Southampton, and then back to Portsmouth. He also managed West Ham and Tottenham, which gives him a Judas rating of five clubs/two rivalries.

Portsmouth fans let Harry Redknapp know their feelings after he jumped on the coastal hopper to Southampton in 2005. Photograph: Tom Jenkins/The Guardian

Neil Hanratty can see Redknapp’s restlessness and raise it in the shape of a former England coach. “Sam Allardyce probably fits the bill,” says Neil. “He managed on both sides of these rivalries: Bolton and Blackburn, Preston and Blackpool, and Sunderland and Newcastle. And although it’s not the strongest rivalry, he also managed two clubs in London: Crystal Palace and West Ham. In addition to managing West Ham, he also played for Millwall before managing. So even for half a rivalry for the London derby and playing in a rivalry, that’s at least four.”



It’s good, but it’s not quite Paulo Autuori. This is a man who, according to the Wikipedia Football Yearbook, has had 38 different managerial jobs. That has given him plenty of scope to do the Figo. “He already has seven clubs across three rivalries in Brazil with Rio de Janeiro (Vasco da Gama, Botafogo and Flamengo), Belo Horizonte (Atlético Mineiro and Cruzeiro), Porto Alegre (Grêmio and Internacional),” writes Chris Pope. “He’s also managed clubs in Lima, Peru (Sporting Cristal and Alianza Lima), and Madeira (Maritimo and CD Nacional). That gives a grand total of 11 different clubs spanning five different cities.”

Fewest goals conceded by relegated team

“FC Helsingor just got relegated to Denmark’s third tier despite only conceding 43 goals in 33 games, an average of 1.3 goals per game,” writes William Jansen. “What are the fewest goals conceded per game by a relegated team?”

“Despite the fact that Pisa conceded just 36 goals in 42 matches, an average of 0.86 goals per game, they finished at the bottom of the Serie B 2016-17 table,” writes Dirk Maas. “The lack of goalscoring, only 23 goals in 42 matches, was their achilles heel.”

Sticking with Italy, Liam Derry takes “a quick look at the Serie A tables from the 1980s. This led me to the Brescia team of 1980-81, who conceded just 25 goals in 30 games – 0.83 per game – on their way to relegation. They drew 0-0 eight times. A more recent answer away from pre-1990s Italian football is the 2007-08 Leicester City team. They were relegated from the Championship with the league’s second best defensive record, with just 45 goals conceded in 46 games, 0.98 per game.”

Yoyoyoyoyoyoyoyo clubs

“What’s the most times a team has won the second tier in a 10-year period?” asks Conor Pope.

Steve Hyde informs us that the English record for this peculiar achievement is three. Sheffield Wednesday won the old Division Two in 1951-52, 1955-56 and 1958-59, while Sunderland were promoted to the Premier League as champions in 1995-96, 1998-99, 2004-05 and 2006-07. Yes, yes, we know that’s four times, but only three were within a 10-year period.

To find a team that has managed it four times in a 10-year period, the Knowledge must head to Spain. “During their ‘yo-yo era’ from 1957 to 1973, Deportivo La Coruña were relegated six times and promoted five times,” says Wouter van Dael. That included an astounding seven-season run of championships (1962, 1964, 1966, 1968) and relegations (1963, 1965, 1967).”

‘How many times have you won the second tier in a 10-year period, pal?’ Photograph: Owen Humphreys/PA

Knowledge archive

“I’ve just been Wiki-surfing,” wrote Simon Cornwall in 2008, “and read on Peter Beardsley’s page that he once scored four goals for England against Aylesbury United. Can anyone shed any light on when this game was played, why it was played, and if there have been any other similar friendlies?”

Picture the scene: it’s eight days before Bobby Robson’s England are due to run out at the Neckarstadion in Stuttgart for their opening match of the 1988 European Championships. You haven’t lost an international since September 1987 and things are looking good. So who have you chosen for your final warm-up game?

Aylesbury? On 4 June, England completed their Euro 88 preparations against the reigning Beazer Homes League champions Aylesbury United in front of 6,031 at Buckingham Road. Beardsley did indeed net four goals in England’s 7-0 thrashing of the Ducks, not that it did much good; England lost to Ray Houghton’s goal against the Irish. Then lost to Holland. Then lost to the USSR. And then came home.

Aylesbury United remain the only non-league side to face the national team, but there have been other similar friendlies. On 9 June 1998 England played a Caen XI in a behind-closed-doors friendly prior to the World Cup, with Paul Scholes scoring in a 1-0 win. Bradford City were beaten 2-1 by an England side in December 1986 in a match to celebrate the reopening of Valley Parade following the fire in May 1985. And an FA XI – effectively the England team of the day – faced Bill Nicholson’s double-winning Tottenham side in the Charity Shield in August 1961. Spurs won 3-2.

For more from the Knowledge archive, click this thing here

Can you help?

“The assault by Sevilla’s Joris Gnagnon on Liverpool’s Yasser Larouci got me thinking: what’s the longest ban a player has received for an offence in a pre-season game?” asks Trent Duvall.

“Sebastian Haller’s West Ham unveiling, complete with the now requisite crossed-arms gesture, got me thinking,” writes Steve Bloor. “Who was the first signing to do it and why? It’s been going since Manuel Lanzini in 2015, at least. Also, aside from West Ham and Cardiff’s ‘Ayatollah’, which other clubs have a similarly team-specific pose?”

“Berwick Rangers have conceded 42 goals in competitive matches – Scottish League 2, relegation play-off, Scottish League – since last scoring themselves, against Peterhead, on March 19th. Is this a record for a league club (I know they’ve now lost that status, but all of these matches are league level competition)?” asks Huw Richards.

@TheKnowledge_GU Young Liverpool keeper Kai McKenzie-Lyle (@kai_m_L) scored on his international debut for Guyana in 2016. Have any other keepers scored on their debut for club or country? https://t.co/KUF3cx6w6S — Nathan Eaton (@nate_1983) July 22, 2019

Email your questions and answers to knowledge@theguardian.com or tweet @TheKnowledge_GU.