The most eye-catching English football fixtures that are yet to be played | The Knowledge

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“My beleaguered Tranmere played Barnet a couple of weeks ago,” begins James. “I was amazed that this was the first ever meeting between two clubs who have spent so much time in the Football League. It made me wonder: what is the most surprising or eye-catching fixture in English club football that has never been played?”

We were surprised to hear that Middlesbrough’s 1-1 draw with Wrexham on Saturday was the first ever league match between those two sides, though they have met in both domestic cup competitions.

The most eye-catching unplayed fixture is, well, in the eye of the beholder. But on the Facebook group, The English Football Record – if you like the Knowledge, you’ll love this – Lars Bjering Husum has listed them by the number of seasons the two teams have spent in the Football League.

Lars has done two separate lists – the first just for league games, the second for those who haven’t met in any of the cups either. As Tranmere and Barnet had never met before, in league or cup, we’ve picked the second to use here, but you can see them both on the EFR page (Lars’ list is up to the end of the 2024-25 season; we’ve adapted it to include this year as well).

Incidentally, Tranmere v Barnet would not have been particularly high. Barnet have only spent 21 seasons in the Football League; Tranmere’s 94 gives them a combined total of 115.

222 seasons Everton (127) v Rochdale (95), West Brom (127) v Rochdale (95)
218 Everton (127) v Hartlepool United (91)
217 Manchester United (123) v Gillingham (94), Manchester City (123) v Exeter City (94)
216 Arsenal (122) v Southend United (94), Arsenal (122) v Exeter (94)
213 Liverpool (122) v Hartlepool (91)
206 Manchester United (123) v Mansfield Town (83)
205 Everton (127) v Torquay United (78)
204 Manchester United (123) v Darlington (81)
203 Newcastle United (122) v Darlington (81), Sunderland (125) v Torquay(7 8)
201 Manchester United (123) v Torquay (78)
200 Arsenal (122) v Torquay (78), Aston Villa (127) v Newport (73), Liverpool (122) v Torquay

The highest for league games only was Everton v Walsall, who have been in the Football League for a combined 233 seasons. But they have met once each in the League and FA Cups.

But this question isn’t just about the numbers. Mike Slattery has written in with a couple of curiosities. “The only club in the Championship at the moment who’ve never played top-flight football is Wrexham. They’ve met almost all of the bigger clubs at some point in cup football (and in the case of Manchester United, in Europe!) but they have never played Leeds United in a competitive match,” writes Mike. “They are the only two clubs in the top two divisions at present who’ve never met in any competition.

“Carlisle United’s only top-flight season was in 1974-75, at the end of which they were relegated back to the Second Division. Manchester United had been relegated from Division One the previous season, and were immediately promoted again. This season of missing each other means that Carlisle is the only club in league history to have played top-flight football but not met Manchester United in a league match.”

Early English managerial exits (2)

In last week’s Knowledge we looked at the shortest reigns for a permanent manager in the English top flight. A number of you wrote in to mention Steve Coppell’s 33-day stay at Manchester City in 1996, but they were in the second tier at the time.

A couple of you also mentioned Sam Allardyce’s 30-day spell in charge of Leeds in 2023. We excluded him as he was effectively a deluxe caretaker – he was only appointed for the last four games of the season, whereas everyone on the list was given a longer-term contract.

If we had included Football League managers, the winner (sic) would have been Leroy Rosenior. He was appointed manager of Torquay in May 2007, only to be sacked – 10 minutes later according to reports at the time – when a new consortium took over the club. The reality was slightly more complicated, but let’s just print the legend.

Here are some other notably short reigns in the Football League:

3 days: Bill Lambton, Scunthorpe, April 1959
4 days: Dave Bassett, Crystal Palace, May 1984
7 days: Tim Ward, Exeter City, March 1953
Kevin Cullis, Swansea City, February 1996
8 days: Billy McKinlay, Watford, Sept-Oct 2014
9 days: Martin Ling, Cambridge, Jul-Aug 2009

Close but no cigar

“Cody Gakpo hit the woodwork three times for Liverpool against Manchester United,” begins H. “Is this a record for top-flight football?”

Our inner pedant, a beast that won’t be tamed, would argue he hit the post only twice and that had his deflected cross dropped into the net, it would have been a Bruno Fernandes own goal. But no matter, because another Liverpool forward has Gakpo’s number. When Liverpool trounced Chelsea 4-1 in February 2024, Darwin Núñez hit the post or crossbar four times.

Knowledge archive

“I can’t remember the last time I read of a club P45-ing a manager without a statement declaring: ‘The club would like to place on record its thanks to [wotsisname] …’” began Dom Smith in 2017, and we’ve no idea what made us think of this particular question this week. “Wolves are the latest example at the time of writing. Someone’s to blame for this Ctrl+C/V-ery and I want to know who. So, who was the first club to use this firing formula?” [And how about the least thankful club statement on a manager’s departure? – Knowledge Ed.]

“You’d be hard-pressed to rival the double-whammy of ingratitude from Raith Rovers this year,” wrote Iain Wallace. “An annus horribilis that resulted in our unexpected, and largely self-inflicted, relegation to League Two also resulted in two managers leaving without much love being lost. After Gary Locke’s calamitous reign was brought to an end on 7 February 2017, the Rovers had only the following to say:

The board of directors of Raith Rovers FC announces that we have parted company with manager Gary Locke and assistant manager Darren Jackson, with immediate effect.

“They were similarly laconic when releasing the following regarding John Hughes, mere minutes after the final penalty confirmed relegation through the playoffs.

Raith Rovers FC announces that we have this evening parted company with manager John Hughes and assistant manager Kevin McBride

“It’s been a tough year …”

The Knowledge Archive

Can you help?

“The last team outside the Old Firm to become champions of Scotland were Aberdeen in 1984-85,” notes Jason Jandu. “Has there been a longer two-team dominance of a domestic league, either now or in the past?”

“Marc Guiu became Chelsea’s youngest-ever Champions League goalscorer against Ajax, only to have the record snatched away from him by Estêvão 30 minutes later. What other examples of rapidly lost records are there in the world of football? What’s the record for the shortest-held record?” asks Matt Prior.

“Tyrique George’s goal last week means his five senior goals for Chelsea have each come in a different competition (Conference League, Premier League, Club World Cup, League Cup, Champions League). Is this mild oddity unique?” wonders Jack Freeman.

“I recently watched a YouTube video about Tugay’s time at Blackburn Rovers, and noticed that all but one of his 13 goals for them were from outside the box,” declares Luke Levy. “Is there anyone with a similarly prolific spell at a club (around 10+ goals) that can match (or eclipse) Tugay’s ratio of goals outside the box? Or is there anyone who scored all their goals for a club from beyond the penalty area?”

“Since Opta and co started keeping records of assists, what’s the highest-scoring game without an assist. Penalties don’t count. Has there been a goal-fest of individual brilliance?” asks Roger Kirkby.