handsofclay

31 minutes ago, Davefevs said:

Did you used to fight the clues for 321?

I once used to set questions for a quiz and my favourite was to ask "What was the most famous ship that sank..."

I would wait while everyone smiled and wrote Titanic before adding "...and was brought to the surface again?"

Unlike the Titanic and Mary Rose it didn't go down well. But I enjoyed it.

29 minutes ago, Gazred said:

So when I said Ian Wright and you said close...

Great question, i was intrigued to know the answer. Won't forget that name in a hurry.

I said close because Ian Wright is very much like John Goodall in that the Scottish version of the name John is Ian and he has right in his surname while Goodall has Good.

21 minutes ago, Eddie Hitler said:

 

Doesn't Steve Archibald, born September 1956, also meet the criteria?

 

After winning the Scottish Premier Division title in 1980, he moved to London club Tottenham Hotspur for £800,000,^[4] where he finished the top scorer in the First Division and won the FA Cup in his first season there.^[4]

https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Steve_Archibald

 

Edit: ah, doesn't meet the representing England criterion as he represented Scotland.

That would've been a good answer but Archibald although the top scorer in the top flight in his debut football league season wasn't the Football League's top scorer. Of course it was easy for Goodall to also be the Football League's top scorer in 1888-89 because the League only consisted of one division.

49 minutes ago, cidercity1987 said:

Fred Morris WBA

Top goalscorer in the 1919/20 season having only made his debut that season aged 25 (almost 26). The naughty bit being that there was no football during WW1.

Just my guess.

That could also be right too.

I was being naughty when I set the question choosing the very first football league season. Then realised that a similar situation could've also occurred after both world wars with the absence of league football for a few years before its resumption in peacetime.

So some very good guesses but well done richwwtk who got the correct answer.

51 minutes ago, richwwtk said:

John Goodall?

Congratulations we have a winner!

4 hours ago, Big C said:

Jimmy Floyd Hasselbaink  Leeds

Sadly, no but good try.

30 minutes ago, Ashtonboy said:

Osgood and Chelsea 

 

No, hard luck. Osgood was great inside the box but for this answer one might need to think outside of the box.

21 minutes ago, RoystonFoote'snephew said:

Wasn't there a keeper in Italy some years back who was signed by nearly all their big clubs (Juve, Milan etc) but only played about 6 games in around 20 seasons? 

That wouldn't at all surprise me, yet despite his lack of appearances he played an essential role throughout those years.

You might well be right with that answer as it would be along the right tracks but it wasn't the answer I had that I have now sent you.

Such is the life of an understudy keeper these days. Someone competent has to occupy that substitute goalkeeper spot on the bench these days. I wouldn't be surprised if there are goalkeepers around who have been ever presents in matchday squads every season for a dozen seasons yet only managed under 20 appearances, including sub ones, in those dozen or so years.

But a club would be incompetent if they didn't employ them. 

Although he was essentially Scottish, of Scottish parents and prior to signing for this top flight club he played for clubs based in Scotland, however he was born in London and played international football for England.

He also played a couple of seasons of county cricket for Derbyshire and also later played football for Derby County but I cannot name the top flight team he played for and topped the football league goalscoring charts in his debut league season because that club haven't won many titles so it would be almost giving it away.

1 minute ago, PHILINFRANCE said:

Without checking, Liverpool and Kenny Dalglish?

I have checked, not a bad shout as he was the right age but Trevor Francis and Bob Latchford scored more than he did in his first top flight season and there were others in the Second, Third and Fourth divisions who scored more.

This mystery guy was the top scorer in the top flight and in the whole Football League in his first ever season of league football at the age of 25. But you were along the right tracks with Dalglish as this chap was also Scottish.

Just now, PHILINFRANCE said:

As a complete guess, Manchester United and Sir Bobby Charlton.

Suspecting a possible naughty trick question, as he would not have played in the English football league prior to signing for Tottenham, Jurgen Klinsmann.

You are wrong, Phil, in that it was Bobby Charlton and you are wrong also in that the 25 year old had played in a foreign league prior to signing for this top flight club.

However, you are right in that I might be being a bit naughty.

The player concerned went into football management when he hung up his boots.

2 minutes ago, weepywall said:

Leicester and Vardy

Unfortunately, no.

16 minutes ago, PHILINFRANCE said:

Vardy?

Hard luck 

7 minutes ago, Gazred said:

Ian Wright, Palace?

No, close but no cigar 

A top flight team once gave a debut to a 25 year old striker who, prior to that, had never played a game in the football league in his life. That first season with them he finished as the top goalscorer in the whole of the football league.

Can you name the club and the forward?

Don't like either side for some of the reasons given above so like the OP I wish neither was getting promoted. However, I have accepted that one of them will be. So, I will be watching the match knowing that one of them is guaranteed to FAIL. And I will enjoy witnessing the misery and meltdown of the supporters of the team that won't be returning to the Prem. 

Bring it on.

On 07/05/2024 at 12:30, BigTone said:

I had his phone number as a kid and would call on the odd occasion for a chat.  Think he worked as a delivery man also whilst playing also.

As kids we knocked on his door in Whitchurch Lane to get his autograph. He gave it but politely told us not to make a habit of it.

Also visited my primary school Wansdyke as a guest in about 1970-71. Remember him looking bronzed and godlike on stage. I roughly remember him telling us kids how hard it was to become a professional footballer and to stick to more realistic goals like becoming an astronaut instead.

6 hours ago, Barrs Court Red said:

At least spell his name right ffs. 

As a fellow Jon(athan) I totally agree.

Just now, Harry said:

Especially when you hear Les Kew on the video above saying how so many teams had been after him. We could surely have played them off and increased the bids. And it’s not as if we weren’t aware of how sell on clauses operated as we knew Arsenal had one, so why didn’t we add one too!!
One of the worst pieces of business this club has ever done in my opinion. 

I'm pretty sure that it was after this ridiculous bit of business that we ensured we always installed sell on clauses ourselves. Rather stupid seeing that we were paying a sell on clause to Arsenal that we neglected to install one for a young and clearly talented goalscorer!

18 hours ago, The Gasbuster said:

Interesting that he mentioned Arsenal had added a 30% sell on clause, when we did bring him in permanently.

What on earth were our then bunch of clowns thinking when they agreed to sell to Newcastle ?

I remember thinking at the time that we had paid out our then record fee for a player £500,000, the permanent signing was a fantastic success but with the 30% sell on clause it meant that when we sold him for £1.75 M we effectively received £1,375,000 minus the original investment meant a profit of £875,000. Although that was worth more back then in the football world it was hardly impressive even for the time. 

We should've held out for £2.5M.

41 minutes ago, Major Isewater said:

Two legs = Twice the revenue. 
This is why your excellent ideal will never come to pass. 

Quite agree, Major. I had that same idea back in the late 1980s when the play offs started as it is fairer to the teams with regards to where they finish in the league. The higher one finishes the more help in the play offs one receives.

However, in the 35+ years since I used to advocate that I have had much time to reflect and reach the conclusion that the set up we currently have is the best. It's why it has remained without being tweaked for so long. The only tweak occured after the first couple of years when the team in the lowest position just above the automatic relegation spots in the division above were no longer included.

If, for instance, the team finishing third automatically get to Wembley to play a one off winner takes all match against one who has triumphed over two others, it rewards failure. Missing out on automatic promotion should be gutting as in Leeds case this season but if the fans are then consoled by the fact they'll be going to Wembley and have about three weeks to prepare for that one match during which time their opponents might well have had to slog through two life or death matches to meet them, incurring possible injuries along the way they might actually think the jobs a good un and be sort of glad they did just miss out as they can now go up in one match at the home of football in a blaze of glory.

As the Major states, there would be fewer matches so less revenue and the play offs become a mini competition in which every team starts on a fairly equal footing (except the higher team play the home leg second so any extra time is at their place), thus the two winners are two teams who have won their way to the final not made it there simply by losing out on second spot on the final day of the season. Thus two teams that won ties against top sides to get there. Not two teams, one of which might in theory have lost its last 5 games to drop out of the top two. Hardly box office appeal stuff.

Just because the first two matches today were as dull as ditchwater it doesn't mean the play offs need an overhaul. Our first tie at Palace in our Championship play off season was an exciting 2-1 win for us and the second game was also an engrossing affair. Beware of swapping a winning formula for something a lot worse.

Evidently, Steve Lansdown has been in both dressing rooms at both Carrow Road and The Hawthorns saying that as a fan he wants to see the excitement of  penalty shoot outs to determine who contests the Championship Play Off Final at Wembley.