"With the adoption of three points for a win in 1981 [in the English football league], would any league title outcomes since have changed if the two-point system was still used?" wonders Jamie McGrady. "And would there have been changes to former title wins pre-1981, if using the three-point system?"

The three-points-for-a-win system was introduced to make football more interesting; by Jimmy Hill's calculations, the incentives weren't high enough when a win yielded only one point more than a draw. Make it three points for a win, and you'll have goals galore, Hill reckoned. Whether it has had the desired effect is still up for debate, since the value of a win makes parking the bus at 1-0 a more desirable option. And it turns out that not much would have been different, in terms of title winners, had the system stayed the same: in the 30-odd years since the change, the only Premier League win to be struck off would be Blackburn Rovers in 1994-95, with Manchester United etched on to the trophy instead.

At two points for a win, one for a draw, the two would have been dead level on points and United's superior goal difference (+49 to +41) would have won them the title. In 2007-08 Chelsea would have come close to stealing United's crown, a two-point system drawing them level, but again United's goal difference (+58 versus Chelsea's +39) would have clinched it. In the Championship, Reading would not have been named 2011-12 Championship winners had a win still been worth only two points, because Southampton would've nicked the title on goal difference. And in 1991-92 the winners of the third division would've been Birmingham City, not Brentford.

So it looks as if Jimmy Hill didn't transport English football to a parallel universe. Had a win always been worth three points, however, the divisions would've stacked up rather differently over the years – with Plymouth Argyle especially hard done by in the two-points-for-a-win world. In 1921-22 Plymouth would have won the Third Division South, not Southampton. A few years later in 1925-26, when Reading took the Third Division (South) title, Plymouth would have been level on points had a win been worth three, and then won the title on goal average – having scored 107 goals in the season. And in 1974-75, when Plymouth finished second in the Third Division, three points for a win would have seen them take the title from Blackburn Rovers by a single point. By then, though, Plymouth had pinched the Third Division title from Hull City, who would've taken the 1958-59 title if their 26 wins had been worth three points each.

The earliest change we can find is in the 1903-04 season, when Preston North End won the Second Division title, but with three points a win, second-placed Woolwich Arsenal would have drawn level and won thanks to their whopping 4.135 goal average. In 1911-12 Chelsea, not Derby County, would win the Second Division title thanks to the enhanced rewards for their extra win. Derby would also be denied their 1974-75 First Division title, while we're at it, since Ipswich Town, who finished third, had won two more matches than County and Liverpool. Had they been worth three points, Ipswich and Derby would've been level on points and Town's better goal average (1.5 to Derby's 1.367) would have sealed it. (Although had Liverpool beaten Middlesbrough away at the end of the season, they, in fact, would have won the title in Bob Paisley's first season in charge, thanks to their goal average, which was better than those of Derby and Ipswich. It was an outrageously tight season.) Liverpool did win the title the following season, and though three points for a win would have put Queens Park Rangers level, Liverpool's goal difference was again the best in the division.

It's then on to the 1920s, when league titles would five times have been decided on goal average had wins been worth three points. In the First Division, in 1924-25, West Bromwich Albion and Huddersfield Town would each have finished with 79 points; in 1927-28, Huddersfield and Everton would both have reached 73; and in 1928-29, Aston Villa and Sheffield Wednesday hit the same total. On each occasion the title winner – Huddersfield, Everton and Wednesday, respectively – would have been unchanged thanks to goal average. That 1928-29 season would also have seen the (unchanged) winners of the Second and Third Division (North) decided by goal average too. In 1923-24, three points for a win would have brought Rochdale level with Wolverhampton Wanderers, but they too would have remained second best on goal average.

Not much would have changed in the 1950s, with the 1950 Third Division (North) title going to Gateshead instead of Doncaster Rovers, and the 1955 Second Division title being won by Luton, a point ahead of Birmingham City (as it was, City won on goal average). By contrast, the 1960s would've been transformed by three points for a win: Chelsea, not Stoke City, would've won the 1962-63 Second Division title, with 24 wins to the Potters' 20. The following season Third and Fourth Division titles would have gone to Crystal Palace and Carlisle United respectively, not Coventry City and Gillingham (Coventry would also be denied the 1966-67 Second Division title, with Wolves winning by a point). In 1964-65, third-placed York City would have won the Fourth Division title instead of Brighton and Hove Albion.

The 1965-66 Fourth Division was a tight affair, with three points separating first and sixth. Had wins been rewarded with three points, Darlington pip Doncaster Rovers with 84 points to 83. Force those eyelids back up, come on folks; we're almost there. In 1967-68 Ipswich, who actually won the Second Division title, would have been bumped down to third, since three points per win would have seen QPR crowned on 83 points, with Blackpool on 82. (Ipswich would have had 81.) That same season Bury would have beaten Oxford United to the Third Division title by a single point, not the other way around.

And so, finally, to the 1970s. At the end of the 1970-71 season Fulham would have topped the Third Division instead of Preston North End, without even needing their superior goal average; as it was they finished second. There would have been more radical change at the end of the decade, mind: in 1978-79, Watford would have won the Third Division on goal difference from Swansea in second, with Swindon Town jumping to third and the real-life champions, Shrewsbury, dropping to fourth. Meanwhile in the Second Division Brighton would have been champions, with Crystal Palace shoved down as far as fourth thanks to the additional points owed to Sunderland (second) and Stoke City (third on goals scored). Aren't you glad he asked?

What have we got wrong, then? knowledge@theguardian.com

DEBUT GOALS

"In their FA Cup fourth-round victory at Port Vale, Brighton won 3-1 with all three of their goals being the goalscorer's first goal for the club," notes Karl Stringer. "Can this be beaten?"

"Maybe not beaten, but matched," says Kevin, of Sydney via Glasgow. "Chelsea v West Ham, in the first game of the Premier League in 2000, had three or four goals from debut players. Jimmy Floyd Hasselbaink, Freddie Kanouté and Mario Stanic x2." Stanic's first was a proper belter, too.

"Major League Soccer formed in 1996 with teams that had no prior history," says Tim Dockery. "In the first couple of weeks of the inaugural season, almost every goal scored was the first goal scored by that player for his club. On May 5, 1996, Sporting Kansas City (then known by the less fortunate name of the Kansas City Wiz) was drubbed 4-0 by the Colorado Rapids. All of Colorado's goals came from players who had never scored for Colorado before: Scott Benedetti, Steve Trittschuh, Sean Henderson and Richard Sharpe.

"Three days earlier, however, Kansas City were doing the drubbing when they beat the Columbus Crew 6-4. The six KC goals came from four players who had never scored for their club before: then US internationals Mike Sorber, Preki (2) and Mark Chung and the former Scotland international Mo Johnston (2). In addition, two of Columbus's goals came from players who had not previously scored for Columbus (Michael Clark and Todd Yeagley), meaning that a total of six players had their debut goal for their club in one game."

KNOWLEDGE ARCHIVE

"Ricardo did it in a shoot-out against England in the summer but has any goalkeeper ever saved a penalty and scored in normal time?" asked Joe Blair in 2004.

The answer is: yes, yes and kind of, Joe. We've dug up two bona fide examples, as well as the curious case of Niall Quinn.

First up, is the former Paraguayan captain José Luis Chilavert, whose goal-scoring record - as Tom Adams was quick to point out - was rightly famed. " I reckon it must be inevitable that Chilavert scored and faced penalties in the same game," writes Mr Adams. A shame then, that he decided to "leave the laborious trawl through Vélez Sarsfield and Colombian results over the 1990s for someone else". He left them for John to be precise, who diligently confirmed that Chilavert scored and saved a penalty in Vélez Sarsfield's 2-0 win over Independiente in 1999.

Less well-known are the goal-plundering exploits of current Bayer Leverkusen keeper Jörg Butt, who has scored 24 goals (all penalties) in his career to date; while playing for previous club Hamburg, he even managed to end up top scorer with nine goals in the 1999-2000 season. It was in the same season that Butt scored and saved a penalty in Hamburg's 3-1 victory over Schalke.

Which leaves us with Niall Quinn. Back in the days of the 'old' first division and no substitute keepers, Quinn - who had already scored - was stuck between the posts after Tony Coton was sent off for Manchester City against Derby at Maine Road during the 1990-91 season. Dean Saunders stepped up to take the penalty and, in the immortal words of James Sweet, Quinn "got a hand to it and it went over the bar in the style of Banks against Pele". Indeed, according to Kenneth O'Brien, "such was the big man from Perrytown's expertise, he actually travelled to Italia 90 as Ireland's third goalkeeper". Which, we suppose, makes Niall Quinn nearly count. But not quite.

And, to go back to Joe Blair's original question, we turn togoalkeepersaredifferent.com. Apparently, prior to 1912, goalkeepers regularly appeared on the score sheet thanks to rules that allowed them to handle the ball up to the halfway line.

ARCHIVE UPDATE

"I see last week you had the story of Carlo Corazzin's booking at the kick-off in about 1994 for Cambridge United," says Nader Khalifa, referring to last week's archival story about weird kick offs. "The chap who mentions it is actually a bit mistaken, and it's even weirder than he states. United were playing Lincoln, managed by John Beck (who had been sacked two years previously by United after his crazy but successful era at Cambridge).

"At the kick-off in question, Beck had ordered two or three of his players to charge the ball at the whistle. However, entering the centre circle is only allowed once the ball is played and not simply after the whistle is blown. Corazzin didn't touch the ball only to see a Lincoln player steam in and take the ball off him, before the ref halted play and demanded a restart. However, after three starts, and three infringements by Lincoln players, the ref inexplicably booked Corazzin for time wasting. This makes Corazzin, by my reckoning, one of the few players ever (if it has indeed happened to anyone else) to be booked before kick off, and certainly the only one to be booked for time wasting before a game had technically started!"

THREE MEN AND A TROPHY

"I was wondering," says Sean Bower, "with Sunderland through to the final, if any other team have had three different managers (Paolo Di Canio, Kevin Ball, Gus Poyet) en route to a final."

"Presumably without much surprise, Chelsea can match Sunderland's feat," says Jack Cummins. "Their FA Cup triumph in the 2008-09 season saw them play in the competition under Phil Scolari, Ray Wilkins and Guus Hiddink.

"Luiz "Big Phil" Scolari for the third and fourth rounds (4-1 vs. Southend in a third round replay and 3-1 vs. Ipswich in a fourth round replay); Wilkins managed the team in a caretaker role in the fifth-round win against Watford (3-1); and Hiddink took Chelsea the rest of the way past Coventry (2-0) and Arsenal (2-1) to eventually beat Everton 2-1 in the final."

MOPPING UP

"Regarding the question about managers getting a good start with an early goal in a debut game," says Raymond Simpson. "Jackie McNamara's first match in charge of my team Dundee United, last year, brought a goal after 13 seconds."

CAN YOU HELP?

"Have any other clubs in England ever gone two consecutive transfer windows without signing a permanent player?" asks Tim Robson. "Newcastle United went through this window and previous window with only a single temporary loan signing in each."

"Here's one I was mulling over yesterday afternoon," begins Mike Coxon, "following a spate of red cards for my ill-disciplined Manchester United side on Championship Manager 01/02 (the best instalment of the series I'm sure you'll agree). Has a goalkeeper ever been sent off for two bookable offences?"

"Spurs have lost to Man City 5-1 at home and 6-0 away: 11-1 on aggregate in the 2013-14 season. Has any other team suffered a worse aggregate defeat in a season?" wonders Mark Dowden.

"What's the earliest in a game that all six substitutes have been used?" Mark Harris asks.

"Footballers don't get enough points these days for assists (except in Fantasy Football) in addition to the goals they score," harrumphs Gairik Datta. "Has anyone in the top divisions of the big leagues ever notched up a Double Double (if I may take a cue from basketball), i.e. 20+ goals, 20+ assists in a single season? Who is the most prolific 'all rounder' ever?"

"Against Cardiff, Manchester United had an outfield which was 40% left-footed, with Giggs, Evra, Van Persie, and Mata. Sadly Januzaj wasn't allowed in on the lefty fun until later," says Adam Hussein. "My question is – what is the most left-footed side that has ever been fielded for a Premier League fixture?"

"Has a penalty taker ever started their run up from goal side of the ball?" asks Matt A from Kent. "If so, what was the outcome?"

"I was wondering what is the record for a team being awarded a penalty in consecutive soccer matches?" says this email from Ronan Byrne. "I heard that Leicester City FC currently have five in a row, all being converted by the same person, and have eight for the season."

Send your questions and answers to knowledge@theguardian.com