“To hear that a fixture is a ‘six-pointer’ is pretty common in the modern game, but I can’t ever remember hearing a game was a ‘four-pointer’ when it was just two points for a win. Can anyone find examples of pre-1981 games called four-pointers?” asks Ed Butler.
The Guardian and Observer archive is our friend here. A quick search for “four-pointer” brings up plenty of answers, including a classified advert from 1836 for an auction, with items on sale including “about 18 dozen of prime old port wine, 15 dozen of sherry, which will be sold in lots to suit purchasers; one garden roller, two iron garden seats; four pointer dogs and various other valuable effects”.
We digress, but frankly why wouldn’t you with something like that? Anyway, the first football-related mention in the Guardian archive comes from Ronald Atkin’s report of West Ham 3-1 Leicester in February 1980. “This was very much what the pundits call a four-pointer,” he begins, “and the points were firmly and fairly claimed by West Ham.” In the end, both teams ended the season happy – Leicester won the Second Division title, and while the Hammers’ league form tailed off, they shocked Arsenal in the FA Cup final – the last second-tier side to win the trophy.
The earliest mention we can find anywhere else is from 1970-71, when the Tranmere manager Jackie Wright spoke about his team’s relegation battle. Their run-in was full of fixtures against teams around them and Wright said every game was “a four-pointer”. They won enough of them to finish 18th and avoid relegation to the old Division Four.
John Spooner can go further back doing more of our work for us. “A quick scan of the British Newspaper Archive suggests ‘four-pointer’ was first used in the early 1950s,” he writes. “From the Yorkshire Evening Post on Thursday 13 December 1951: ‘Both Leeds United and Brentford hope to be at strength for their game at Griffin Park on Saturday, a game which is regarded by both clubs as a “four pointer” in the promotion race.’ Not many instances in the 1950s and 1960s, but usage took off in the 1970s and 1980s.”
But James Morgan can go even further back. “The oldest reference I can find is from 20 February 1939 in the Birmingham Evening Despatch, about Wolves and Everton fighting for the title: ‘Whereas Everton have to play eight of their remaining 14 games on opponents’ grounds, Wolves have only seven such matches. That match on Wednesday is, of course, a ‘four-pointer’ in that if Wolves win they will be only two points behind the leaders, whereas a defeat would put them six points behind.’” In the end, the Toffees won the title by – you guessed it! – four points.
One-club national teams
“With yet another Danish signing, Brentford continue their evolution into the next Danish national team. It got me thinking, has a national team ever fielded an XI entirely from a single club before?” asks Robin Hine.
“Having a national football team field an XI from a single club is literally the oldest trick in the international football book,” notes Chai from Atlanta. “In the first ever international match against England in 1872, all of Scotland’s players were picked from their leading club, Queen’s Park.
“Early Olympic football tournaments used to feature clubs representing the national team. At the 1900 Games in France, the host nation was represented by Club Français, Upton Park FC represented Great Britain and players from the Free University of Brussels represented Belgium. At the 1904 Games in the US, the hosts had two teams representing it, Christian Brothers College and St Rose Parish, and Canada were represented by Galt FC. At the 1913 Far Eastern Championship Games, the national teams of the Republic of China and the Philippines were represented by South China AA and the Bohemian Club respectively.”
Elsewhere … “England have twice fielded an XI composed entirely of players from a single club, once in 1894 and again in 1895,” writes Em Kent. “Both times they played against Wales, with the squad supplied entirely by Corinthians FC.” Jarek Zaba provides some extra background info: “Nicholas ‘Pa’ Lane Jackson founded Corinthians in 1882, hoping to improve England’s fortunes by ensuring the best players developed an understanding through playing at the same club.”
“The entire outfield in the Italy XI was made up of Torino players for their fixture against Hungary in 1947,” writes Jon Cullen. “Torino dominated the Italian national team and league, winning five league titles before the Superga air disaster.” Martin van Neck has two more. “On 30 September 1964, Belgium played a friendly against the Netherlands at home,” he begins. “Belgium started with 10 players from Anderlecht plus a goalkeeper from Liège. He got injured and was replaced at half-time by the Anderlecht keeper, so Belgium played with 11 Anderlecht players in the second half. Belgium won 1-0.
“In 1975, Valeriy Lobanovskyi was manager of both Dynamo Kyiv and the Soviet national team,” Martin adds. “In the USSR’s Euro qualifier against Ireland, the entire starting XI (as well as one of the two substitutes) were Dynamo Kyiv players – and the match was played at Dynamo’s home ground, the Olimpiyskiy.”
Knowledge archive
“In their FA Cup fourth-round victory at Port Vale, Brighton won 3-1 with all three of their goals being the scorer’s first goal for the club,” noted Karl Stringer back in 2014. “Can this be beaten?”
“Maybe not beaten, but matched,” reckoned Kevin, of Sydney via Glasgow. “Chelsea v West Ham, in the first game of the Premier League season in 2000, had four goals from debut players: Jimmy Floyd Hasselbaink, Frédéric Kanouté and two from Mario Stanic.”
Tim Dockery added: “In the first couple of weeks of the inaugural MLS season, almost every goal scored was the first by that player for his club. On 5 May 5 1996, Kansas City Wiz were drubbed 4-0 by the Colorado Rapids. All of Colorado’s goals came from players who had never scored for them before: Scott Benedetti, Steve Trittschuh, Sean Henderson and Richard Sharpe. Three days earlier, Kansas City beat Columbus Crew 6-4 with six of the eight scorers getting their first goals for the club. KC’s scorers were Preki (two), Mo Johnston (two), Mike Sorber and Mark Chung. New arrivals Michael Clark and Todd Yeagley scored one each for Columbus.
Can you help?
“What is the longest league name in the UK, at any level, including sponsor’s name? Or further afield?” asks Roger Kirkby. “I qualify the question by saying they must have a website so it can be checked.”
“Stoke City currently have three players whose fathers – and in one case, their grandfather too – have played in the top flight,” says Robin Wiles. “Tyrese Campbell (son of Kevin), D’Margio Wright-Phillips (son of Shaun, grandson of Ian) and Liam Delap (son of Rory). Are there any examples of teams with even more children of former top-flight players?”
“In the summer of 2003, Chelsea signed three goalkeepers (Neil Sullivan, Jürgen Macho and Marco Ambrosio),” notes Tom Solan. Is this a record? Has a team ever signed four keepers in a single window?”
“Olimpija Ljubljana have begun their league season with six consecutive wins, and are yet to concede a goal,” writes Richard Wilson. “So far, I have found Chelsea (2005-06) and Dinamo Zagreb (2011-12) whose perfect streaks were both ended by a goal in the 44th minute of their seventh game. Has anyone ever won their first seven games (or more) without conceding once?”
“After this weekend, Brighton’s last seven Premier League fixtures will all have been against Uniteds (Manchester, Leeds, West Ham last season; Manchester, Newcastle, West Ham and Leeds this term),” notes Jim Caris. “Is this a record?”
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