Have a Good NEWS

Back to Paul White who brings us news of Weezer's love for the USA team and Andrew Shillito who points out Ash's Kung Fu features a famous kick by Eric Cantona.

"To help settle a discussion with some friends," asks Alex Woolhouse, "could you answer whether a manager has ever left his role to become an assistant at another club? There are rumours that Colin Calderwood is to leave Hibernian to become Steve McClaren's assistant at Nottingham Forest. Also, has a manager ever returned to a club he was fired from to become an assistant?

"In researching the 1965-1966 season saw Everton, I know that they played Sheffield United in the league in games two and four so their home and away games had met each other before the end of August," Notes Conan Jal. "Was this a freak occurrence or a joint holder rarity?"

John Chapman has this answer for you, Conan: "For many years, at home and once away midweek lights planned for the first and second week of the season, and they would occur sometimes both in August, depending on the time of the season started.

"In 1947, Arsenal played Charlton in the first two Wednesdays of the season, 27 August and 3 September, but the season only began on August 23. The 1949-1950 season began on August 20, so Arsenal 's two games were both v Chelsea in August. The earliest (I can find), the two clubs played their second lamp is 19 August 1969, when Arsenal played Leeds for the second time the 1969-1970 season began on August 9 \. "

It was the same for all First Division clubs that year, Conan. Liverpool fulfilled their league fixtures against Manchester City on 20 August, Everton and Manchester United played for a second time on 19 August, ditto Tottenham and Burnley; Wolves and Southampton did it a day later as did Newcastle and Sheffield Wednesday.

"Sepahan Novin are the reserve team of Sepahan FC. Sepahan Novin actually wanted to participate in the Persian Gulf Cup the next season but this was rejected by the Iranian football federation. The IFF ruled that both clubs are part of the same organisation.

There are a fair few, John, arguably the most famous of which was given to a regular guest of the Knowledge pages: one Paul Gascoigne. While playing for Rangers in the 7-0 rout of Hibernian in December, 1995, Gazza was jogging back towards the halfway line at a goal-kick. Spotting that rookie referee Dougie Smith had dropped his yellow card, Gascoigne picked it up, before cheekily waving it at the official – who waved it right back in his face. The booking took the jovial Geordie over the disciplinary maximum points, earning him a two-match ban. As former Scottish referee David Syme said: "If it had happened to me, I'd have p***** myself laughing, patted him on the backside and told him to run along."

Another to fall foul of a humourless official was Crystal Palace midfielder Joonas Kolkka last season. During the 3-2 defeat at Liverpool, the Finn grew tired of what he perceived to be Milan Baros's propensity for going down with a bout of play-acting. After one such incident, he attempted to make his point by theatrically throwing himself to the floor in front of referee Phil Dowd. End result: Kolkka booked and Baros scoring from the resultant free-kick.

"With Roberto Carlos now turning out for Russian Premier League outfit Anzhi Makhachkala (founded 1991), it got me wondering whether any other high-profile professional footballers have played for clubs that didn't exist when they began their professional careers (Roberto Carlos made his debut in 1990)?" asks Alex Tucker.

More on a musical bent from Brian Buckley: "Following on from both the football-inspired band names and football-inspired album covers, can we complete the circle and ask for footballers mentioned in songs? And yes, this is a thinly veiled attempt to shoehorn Los Campesinos' line from All Your Kayfabe Friends: 'You asked if I'd be anyone from history, fact or fiction, dead or alive. I said I'd be Tony Cascarino circa 1995' into the Knowledge.