Quick Football Questions

rcoobc

I always have facts that I struggle to bring to mind because my memory is awful, so instead of wasting hours googling them I thought I would ask the caf's collective memory.

Who was the former United player who, in the wake of Rooneygate, commented how he had asked for a raise whilst at United and the manager went public, panned him, before giving him the raise anyway? I think that manager was Sir Matt Busby, but I'm not completely sure. Edit - it is possible that this wasn't a United player, but unlikely.

What teams have won all 6 Champions League group games (either first group or second group stages). I seem to remember us "nearly becoming the 3rd team" to do so, and that was a fair few years ago.

I had a few more, but I think they should probably go in threads they are clearly about so thats where I will ask them.

stubie1234

Your 2nd Question

1994/95 - Paris SG
2002/03 - Barcelona
2011/12 - Real Madrid

rcoobc

Cheers, I think Fergie missed a trick in 07-08 by not playing full strength in the final group game. Whenever a club comes close to winning all 6 they name the previous 2 (now 3) to do so, good publicity and all that.

stubie1234

I thought we would win all our Group games this season

SharkyMcShark

FWIW we almost went all group without conceding last year

Cling Bak

Definitely missed a trick there.

Except when we won it five months later.

KM

Quick football fact: The team we played in the Champions League final against Chelsea was the first and last time that starting XI played together.

stubie1234

Bear in mind we had Liverpool the Sunday morning after the Roma draw. I expected a draw given the side we put out that night.

rcoobc

Obviously, but that's not the point. The following year we managed to win just 2 games in the group and came runners up.

Cling Bak

Winning things in May is precisely the point.

rcoobc

Did we, thats rather fair enough then, I have to say I don't remember the intricate details. Apparently we won that match so I should shut up

IanDangerously

I'm sure Spartak Moscow did it one year in the early days.

Robin

The first question, wasn't the player Denis Law !

rcoobc

Apparently AC Milan did it in 92-93 when it was 2 points for a win, and because only the top team went to the final they had qualified after 4 games, and where playing teams that couldn't qualify after 3.

rcoobc

Apparently so, cheers!: Denis Law

The parallels between that story and Rooney's always strike me, Clubs and Managers play as many games as the players with regards to contracts.

I hope Morrison has a similar experience.

rcoobc

New Question

How Long is a Football Game?

In before 90 minutes plus fergie time.

Anyway I'm sure about 10 years ago sky sometimes popped up a graphic from OPTA that said the time the football was in-play for, and it was always around 80-84 minutes. Can anyone confirm how long the football is in-play for these days?

Lots of us want a count down clock that is stopped when the ball goes out, but I don't think it will ever happen because it would lengthen the game by around 6 minutes. Can anyone confirm this?

letranger0

http://www.soccerbythenumbers.com/20...-in-match.html

RyanGoggs

That's pretty suprising to be honest.

rcoobc

Cheers man.
Wow, I was so wrong. That's so low, I'm really surprised. 20 seconds of every minute the ball is out of play.

The countdown clock will never happen I guess.

The Neviller

I was just going to say, as I said in the Rangers v Celtic thread, that I thought it was much less than 84 minutes, and more around the 60 minute mark, and then in came letranger with the proof. Good man.

rcoobc

I guess 84 was far too high but 60 minutes is so low, especially now we have ball boys chucking the ball back to players for throw ins.

Perhaps the main reason the count down clock will never happen is for TV. When you know the match will finish at exactly 9:45pm +(2-5 minutes), you can easily but your next tv show on at 10pm. Not so if using a count-down clock the game could last until 10:30

The Neviller

It's more likely because this is how football has always been played. There was no count down clock 60/80/100 years ago, when matches weren't on TV and so getting the match over in time for You're on Sky Sports to come on wasn't an issue. I don't see the issue or the problem with football the way it is to be honest.

rcoobc

Pah! You obviously missed the Champions League final :-)

Sunny Jim

tbh that didn't surprise me one bit, I read somewhere that a game which was a record game in that regard was played between United and some other club (might have been Palace IIRC)

rcoobc

high or low?

Wowi

If you play Stoke with Delap on the pitch the ball is in play for about 20 minutes of the game.

Sunny Jim

high

The Neviller

Obviously I did!

Nah, stopping the clock when the ball goes out changes the game too much for me. Freekicks, corners, goal kicks and throw-ins are all part of the game. Football doesn't need to become like ice-hockey, it's been this way for years and doesn't need changing.

Robin

Not so much for throw ins and corners, but you look how long it takes from when the ball goes into the net until the kick off again,with all the celebrations or even worse the time from when a penalty is given to when ,if scored, they kick off again, that mounts up to a lot of wasted time !

rcoobc

A New Question

What is the earliest written evidence of football being played?

In a book I got for Christmas, "The Trivia Lover's Guide to Football" it says:

Of course that could be any form of Football. It's not a picture of the document in the book, only the text. Any older mentions of football than this?