.png)
5 hours ago
1
“In this month’s Old Firm game, Ianis Hagi scored a goal past Kasper Schmeichel,” notes Steve Murray. “I don’t think Gheorghe scored past Peter, but are there any examples of father/son combos that have scored against another father/son combo?”
Let’s start with the Schmeichels, who have had their nets busted, or at least tickled, by at least two father-son combinations. Dan Almond is first with some Scandinavian action. Alf Inge Haaland scored past Peter Schmeichel for Nottingham Forest in a 4-1 defeat at Old Trafford in September 1996; Erling beat Kasper during Norway’s 3-1 defeat to Denmark last June.
The enmity between Schmeichel Sr and Ian Wright was the catalyst for the rivalry between Manchester United and Arsenal at the turn of the century. Wright never scored past Schmeichel in a league game – “he produced some of the best saves I’ve ever seen,” said Wright recently, and here’s an example – but did beat him with a spectacular goal in the 1993 Charity Shield.
“I am now a staunch supporter of the Community Shield being a proper match and not just a glorified friendly,” writes Jim Hearson, who had already done the work to see whether either of Ian’s sons scored past Kasper Schmeichel. “Shaun came up short, but the day was saved by Bradley Wright-Phillips, who netted for Charlton against Kasper’s Leicester during a 2-1 win at The Valley in the heady days of August 2012.”
Schmeichel’s old Manchester United teammate Paul Ince scored a dramatic late equaliser at Anfield in May 1999, one that threatened to shatter United’s Treble dreams. As Chris Hengler points out, Tom Ince also scored a late equaliser past a Schmeichel in a 2-2 draw; his was a penalty for Blackpool against Leicester in September 2013.
That match took place in the second tier – as did Milan’s 2-2 draw away to Catania in October 1980 (Milan were relegated after the Totonero scandal). “After an own goal from a certain Franco Baresi gave Catania the lead, Roberto Antonelli scored Milan’s first equaliser past Roberto Sorrentino,” recalls Rit Nanda. “Fast forward to the 2014-15 Serie A season, and their sons were playing in a clash between Genoa and Palermo. Paulo Dybala scored for Palermo before Genoa equalised through Luca Antonelli in the 30th minute. Not that he knew much about it – Andrea Bertolacci’s shot deflected off his heel past Stefano Sorrentino. The match finished 1-1.”
And the goal was officially Antonelli’s, which means it qualifies. As do the following, all unearthed by the tireless Dirk Maas …
Netherlands: Martin Koeman (Blauw-Wit and GVAV) and Ronald Koeman (PSV Eindhoven) scored past Frans Körver (MVV) and Chris Körver (Fortuna Sittard).
Belgium: Jan Verheyen (Beerschot) and Gert Verheyen (Club Brugge) against Jean Bodart (RFC Tilleur) and Gilbert Bodart (Standard de Liège and Beveren).
Austria: Felix Gasselich sr (Wiener Sport-Club) and Felix Gasselich jr (Austria Wien and Wiener Sport-Club). and Rudolf Flögel (Rapid Wien) and Thomas Flögel (Austria Wien) scored past Franz Lindenberger (LASK and SV Linz) and Klaus Lindenberger (LASK and FC Linz).
Down down, deeper and down
“Aberdeen took 31 points from their first 11 league games and just four from the next 12. Has any team suffered such a dramatic reversal of form?” wonders Mike Dickie.
It’s nigh-on impossible to match Aberdeen’s slump, so spectacular has it been. But, with the help of Matthew Hague and Chris Roe, we’ve found some striking examples. This week we’ll look at teams whose form collapsed; next week we’ll cover those who enjoyed a dramatic upswing.
We’ve imposed the entirely arbitrary criteria that both blocks of results must involve least 10 games, with one following the other. For the sake of convenience we’ve kept it to league games only. And we’ve ranked the swings in form by the increase or decrease in points per game.
Let’s start with Aberdeen, who were averaging 2.81 points per game before their trip to St Mirren in November. Since then, they’ve managed 0.33 per game, which gives them a slightly frightening downturn of -2.58 points per game. Minus 2.58 points per game!
These are some of the other slumps worthy of mention in a trivia column of the future, or indeed present:
-1.20 Manchester City (2024-25, Premier League)
Aug—Nov P10 W7 D2 L1 Pts 23 PPG 2.30
Nov—Jan P10 W3 D2 L5 Pts 11 PPG 1.10
City took 23 points from the first nine games of the Premier League season then five from the next nine. Had we not imposed that 10-game minimum, their points-per-game would have dropped from 2.56 to 0.56.
-1.26 Blackpool (2010-11, Premier League)
Nov—Jan P11 W5 D3 L3 Pts 18 PPG 1.64
Jan—Apr P13 W1 D2 L10 Pts 5 PPG 0.38
Blackpool, in the top half after completing a league double over Liverpool in mid-January, were relegated on the final day.
-1.39 Aston Villa (1998-99, Premier League)
Aug—Dec P17 W10 D5 L2 Pts 35 PPG 2.06
Dec—Mar P12 W2 D2 L8 Pts 8 PPG 0.67
John Gregory’s Villa were top at Christmas but finished a distant sixth.
-1.46, Hull City (2008-09, Premier League)
Aug—Oct P10 W6 D2 L2 Pts 20 PPG 2.00
Nov—Jan P13 W1 D4 L8 Pts 7 PPG 0.54
Hull avoided relegation on the last day of the season, and their manager Phil Brown celebrated by getting his lungs out.
-1.78 Watford (2000-01, First Division)
12 Aug—4 Nov P15 W12 D3 L0 Pts 39 PPG 2.60
7 Nov—20 Feb P17 W4 D2 L11 Pts 14 PPG 0.82
Watford, hoping to return to the Premier League at the first attempt, made a blistering start to the season but eventually finished ninth.
-2.58 Aberdeen (2024-25, Scottish Premiership)
Better Watch Froch
In last week’s Knowledge we looked at non-football athletes wearing football crests on their kit. Yep, there’s more …
“The golfer Matt Fitzpatrick has warmed up wearing the shirt of his beloved Blades,” writes Richard Martin, “and even has the Sheffield United badge and colours on his golf bag.”
Jim Hearson thinks Lee Westwood has worn the Forest badge on his cap, and he is certain that one of Britain’s greatest boxers has advertised his love for Nottingham’s finest. “Carl Froch used to wear the Forest badge on his shorts during his career and was a regular at our kit launches,” reckons Jim. “Fellow pugilist Leigh Wood has replaced Froch when it comes to showing off new shirts, but I haven’t seen any evidence of him wearing the Forest crest in the ring.”
Knowledge archive
“Eddie Niedzwiecki took temporary charge of Reading following the departure of Mark Bowen. Eddie was previously Reading’s caretaker manager way back in 1991. This means he went 29 years between matches as our manager. Is this a record?” asked Tom Brailli in 2020.
“I can beat that … sort of,” began Chris Page. “But we’d have to count a spell as assistant manager. Former manager of Real Madrid and Brazil’s national team, Vanderlei Luxemburgo, took charge of just about every major team in Brazil over the past 40 years. One of his earliest roles was assistant manager of Vasco da Gama until he departed in 1982 before returning as full-time manager last year. That was a whole 37 years between spells.
“If we’re not counting that however, there are several others that weren’t far off. Graham Turner was closest, leaving Shrewsbury in 1984, returning in 2010 for a gap of 26 years. Jim Smith had a 21-year gap between spells at Oxford United, leaving in 1985 and returning in 2006. Jupp Heynckes, famous for being the man to win the Champions League with Real Madrid in 1998 and then get sacked immediately after, was also worth a mention, pulling somewhat of a double header with long stints between spells as managers at two different clubs.
He had 18 years between spells at Bayern, leaving in 1991 and returning for a brief caretaker spell in 2009, all this alongside a 19-year gap between runs at Borussia Mönchengladbach (1987 and 2006). Finally, Ricardo Ferretti had brief caretaker stints as Mexico manager in 1993 and 2015, giving a 22-year gap between the same international managerial job, possible a record in itself.”
But Nathan Atkinson took us to Belfast for a bona fide winner. “I wanted to bring up Ronnie McFall, who left Glentoran in 1984 and returned for a short spell in 2018, 34 years later.” They say never go back for a reason. McFall resigned on 3 January 2019 after overseeing the worst run in the club’s 137-year history.
Can you help?
“What’s the longest ‘yo-yo’ sequence of a team that really can’t decide which league to stay in?” weeps Southampton fan Rupert Sheard.
“Alex Iwobi scored two accidental goals for Fulham against West Ham last night,” writes Tim Smith. “Surely, own-goals aside, nobody has scored an accidental hat-trick?”
“Ayoze Pérez scored a hat-trick against Southampton for Newcastle. He also scored a hat-trick against Southampton for Leicester City. It got me thinking: has any player scored a hat-trick against the same team on three occasions for three different teams?” asks Masai Graham. Sorry Rupert.
“Stoke’s Ben Gibson has already scored at both ends in two games this season. Has anyone done it three times or more in one season?” wonders Nick Parmenter.
“Graham Potter’s last game in charge of Chelsea and first at West Ham were both against Unai Emery and Aston Villa. Has this happened before?” asks Seamus Collins.
“Reading so much about shirt sponsors in last week’s column, the question came to me: who was the smallest sponsor of a major club?” ponders John Ashdown. “There used to be local mechanics or pubs or whatnot in the shirts of lower-division teams, but has any tiny company ever had their investment go all the way to the top? Any pizza parlour on the shirt of Serie A winners? A small café sponsoring Ligue 1 champions? A family B&B’s name on the shirts of Champions League winners?”
-
Mail us any of your questions and answers.
