Plus: worst-ever penalty shoot outs, poachers turned gamekeepers \u2026 and footballers donating antiques?!<\/p>\n
Mail us with your all of your questions and answers<\/p>\n
\u201cMalachi Fagan-Walcott\u2019s 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?\u201d asks Tom Reed.<\/p>\n
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\u2019s a cracking yarn regardless. \u201cI\u2019ll nominate Gary Plumley,\u201d writes Russell Connor. \u201cGary 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.<\/p>\n
\u201cIn 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\u2019s dad Eddie was chief executive of Watford at the time which led to Gary being signed by the club to play in the game.<\/p>\n
\u201cWatford lost 4-1, and by all accounts Plumley didn\u2019t 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\u2019s an interview with Plumley about the game.\u201d<\/p>\n
You can also read read this from the Guardian archive.<\/p>\n
\u201cErling and Alf-Inge Haaland bought the only surviving copy of the first printed edition of Snorri Sturluson\u2019s medieval history of Norwegian kings and donated it to their hometown of Time in Norway,\u201d writes K\u00e1ri Tulinius. \u201cHave other footballers bought and donated rare books or other antiques?\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cIn 2017, the then Spurs midfielder Mousa Demb\u00e9l\u00e9 bought a 700-year-old building in Antwerp which he began converting into a hotel,\u201d writes Tom Reed. \u201cDuring the renovations a treasure trove of 18th-century porcelain, glass, pottery and tableware was discovered. Demb\u00e9l\u00e9 donated a portion of the treasure, reportedly valued at over \u00a31m, 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).\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cOn 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?\u201d asks Ian Golightly.<\/p>\n
We had this question in 2010, when the answers included:<\/p>\n
Steve Baines, the only referee in the English professional leagues to have had significant experience as a player.<\/p>\n
Dick Jol, who refereed the 2001 Champions League final between Bayern Munich and Valencia.<\/p>\n
Ben Haverkort, who as a player received 73 yellow cards and six reds, many for verbally abusing referees.<\/p>\n
There is a more recent example in the women\u2019s 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\u2019s best referees and took charge of the 2023 Women\u2019s Champions League final between Barcelona and Wolfsburg.<\/p>\n