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“Malachi Fagan-Walcott’s final game of last season was for York City against Rochdale in the National League. His first competitive game of 2026-27 season was for Hearts against Sturm Graz in a Champions League qualifier. Has a player ever made a bigger leap in competitive levels between consecutive club games?” asks Tom Reed.
Does a jump from the Welsh League to the FA Cup count as a bigger leap? Probably not, but this was an FA Cup semi-final, rather than a Champions League qualifier, and it’s a cracking yarn regardless. “I’ll nominate Gary Plumley,” writes Russell Connor. “Gary made almost 200 appearances for Newport County in four separate spells over the course of a decade but by 1987 he had effectively retired and was running a wine bar while making occasional appearances for Ebbw Vale in the Welsh League.
“In the build-up to the FA Cup semi-final in 1987, Watford found themselves short a goalkeeper after both Tony Coton and Steve Sherwood broke a thumb and finger respectively. As luck would have it, Gary’s dad Eddie was chief executive of Watford at the time which led to Gary being signed by the club to play in the game.
“Watford lost 4-1, and by all accounts Plumley didn’t cover himself in glory. His reward was a cheque for expenses, which he used to buy a fridge. The family referred it to as the Watford Fridge. Here’s an interview with Plumley about the game.”
You can also read read this from the Guardian archive.
“Erling and Alf-Inge Haaland bought the only surviving copy of the first printed edition of Snorri Sturluson’s medieval history of Norwegian kings and donated it to their hometown of Time in Norway,” writes Kári Tulinius. “Have other footballers bought and donated rare books or other antiques?”
“In 2017, the then Spurs midfielder Mousa Dembélé bought a 700-year-old building in Antwerp which he began converting into a hotel,” writes Tom Reed. “During the renovations a treasure trove of 18th-century porcelain, glass, pottery and tableware was discovered. Dembélé donated a portion of the treasure, reportedly valued at over £1m, to the local museum and the rest went on display in the lobby of the newly renovated hotel which he (perhaps optimistically) named De Gulde Schoen (The Golden Shoe).”
Poachers turned gamekeepers
“On Sunday, Sean Murdoch was the referee for St Mirren v Dunfermline in the Scottish League Cup. Murdoch was previously a goalkeeper and played for Dunfermline. Are there any other examples of a former player refereeing a match for a club they had played for?” asks Ian Golightly.
We had this question in 2010, when the answers included:
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Steve Baines, the only referee in the English professional leagues to have had significant experience as a player.
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Dick Jol, who refereed the 2001 Champions League final between Bayern Munich and Valencia.
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Ben Haverkort, who as a player received 73 yellow cards and six reds, many for verbally abusing referees.
There is a more recent example in the women’s game: Cheryl Foster MBE, who won 63 caps for Wales and spent most of her club career at Liverpool. She then retrained as a referee; within three years of playing her final game, she was on the Fifa international list. Foster became one of the world’s best referees and took charge of the 2023 Women’s Champions League final between Barcelona and Wolfsburg.
“There’s a picture of me picking the ball out of the little Jeep that drove the ball on to the pitch and I had the biggest smile,” said Foster when she retired last year. “To describe those feelings of doing major tournaments and a big final is incredible.”
The oldest goalscorers in town (II)
In last week’s Knowledge we looked at some of the oldest goalscorers in football history. But we missed one that was scoring in plain sight. You missed the second oldest goalscorer, 58-year-old Mykola Lykhovydov from Real Pharma in Ukraine,” writes Mykola Kozlenko. “There was even an article about him in the Guardian last year. He will not beat the new record though, as his club was relegated from professional football this summer after finishing last for two seasons in a row. At least unless they get promoted back and he is still around 60 ... ”
And though it wasn’t at first-team level, Tom Weir points out that, in 1992, the former Scotland manager Ally MacLeod scored a penalty for Queen of the South reserves at the age of 61.
Knowledge archive
“In the preliminary round of the English League Cup, Rochdale beat Tranmere 2-1 in a penalty shoot out. Is this the fewest goals scored in such a shoot out?” asks Paul Gage.
We had a similar question in 2008, when Mike Gibbons asked about the worst penalty shoot outs. Here’s what we said back then:
As Bill Martin, Florian Kinast and Paul Fields all point out, the shoot-out in the 1986 European Cup final takes some beating. Barcelona and Steaua Bucharest had played out 120 of the most tedious minutes of football ever witnessed in a major final, and with the score at 0-0 the game went to penalties, at which point both teams missed their first two. The Romanians then found their shooting boots and knocked home their next two, but Barça, then managed by Terry Venables, twice more failed to beat Helmuth Duckadam in the Steaua goal. Duckadam, who became known as ‘the hero of Seville’, had saved all four spot-kicks from José Alexanko, Ángel Pedraza, Pichi Alonso and Marcos Alonso, enabling Steaua to run out 2-0 winners.
Sadly Duckadam, who at 27 was reaching his peak years as a goalkeeper, was forced to retire shortly after his finest hour. “Just a few weeks after his epic moment,” writes Florian, “Duckadam’s career came to an end due to a rare vascular disease in his right arm.”
Florian also points to Thailand’s 1-0 win on penalties over Bangladesh in the 1973 Merdeka Tournament, in which Singapore also beat Cambodia 1-0 in a shoot out.
The world record for the worst-ever penalty shoot-out, however, is predictably held by a pair of English sides. In January 1998 the Under-10 sides Mickleover Lightning Blue Sox and Chellaston Boys met in the Derby Community Cup. The game finished 1-1 and the Blue Sox won 2-1 on penalties, though not until a remarkable 66 spot-kicks had been taken. Thanks to Paul Haynes for that one.
All these and many other penalty-related facts, including the best-ever shootouts, can be found at the ever-marvellous rsssf.com
Can you help?
“Mikel Arteta (one title) is the only manager with title-winning experience (in England) heading into the new season. Is this the only time since 1889-90 that there is only a single title among the managers at the start of the season?” wonders Jeremy Finch.
“Kerim Alajbegovic joined Leverkusen on 1 July after his buyback clause from Salzburg was activated for €8m. He’s currently in the process of moving to Juventus for €37m, meaning Leverkusen will profit to the tune of around €1m per day Alajbegovic was at the club. Has any player ever provided a greater ratio of profit per day than this?” asks Richard Wilson.
“As a fan of the Liga MX club Tigres UANL, it’s great to see them enter the record books (or trivia nights, at least) by having the shortest professional player in the world: 5ft 1ins Diego “Chicha” Sanchez,” begins Steve Smith. “Not only that, but he scored an excellent goal against San Luis on Saturday. Made me wonder: just how short are the shortest goalscorers for the top division leagues in Europe?
“Which footballer has played for the most clubs?” asks Paul Gage.
“I’ve driven through the North East on many occasions, and have regularly gone past Gateshead FC’s home (Gateshead International Stadium) and Newcastle United’s St James’ Park on the same journey,” writes Jack Birch. “Google Maps suggests the distance between these is 3.5 miles (or 2.3 miles if you are walking). Are there a combination of towns that beat this?”
“The Wrexham defender Max Cleworth had the letters of ‘Wrexham’ within his name,” notes Mark Lumby. “Have any other players had their club within their own name?”
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