Plus: Germans and penalties: myth or reality?; Football curses (2); and classic shirt gaffes. Send your questions and answers to knowledge@guardian.co.uk and follow us on Twitter
"Managers involved in the title race often speak of the importance of a good goal difference," begins Patrick McClellan. "But when was the last time the title in a major league was decided by one of the other tie-breakers, like goals for, or goals against? Or, has the title in a major European league ever been decided by a play-off when two teams were level on every tie-breaker?"
The only one of Europe's big five leagues – in England, France, Spain, Italy and Germany – to have been decided by a tie-breaker is Serie A and the last time this occurred was in 1963-64. However, the tie-breaker was then used as the way to separate sides who finished together on points, rather than a means of last resort if all other measures failed to find a winner. That meant that not only was there a play-off for the Scudetto – in which Bologna beat Inter 2-0 – but also a relegation play-off between Sampdora and Modena.
That was not the first play-off for the Italian title, and perhaps the most controversial came in 1909-10. Pro Vercelli won the championship in 1908, 1909, 1910-11, 1911-12 and 1912-13 but were denied in 1909-10 by Inter. John Foot, in his epic work Calcio: A history of Italian football, tells the sorry tale:
In 1910 Inter and Pro Vercelli finished level on points at the end of the season. The title play-off was to be played in Vercelli because of their superior goal difference. However, on the date chosen by the federation a number of Pro Vercelli players were committed to a miltary tournament. The club asked for the date to be put back but the federation (and Inter) refused. In protest, Vercelli played their fourth team (made up of 10-15-year-olds). Not surprisingly Inter won easily, 10-3. Pro Vercelli were furious, and were banned until the end of the year for their impudence.
In England, the title race has needed more than points to decide it on five occasions: in 1923-24 (when Cardiff would have won on goals scored today, but lost out to Huddersfield on goal average), 1949-59, 1952-53, 1964-65 and, most famously in 1988-89, when Arsenal became the first team to win the league on goals scored after that ever-so-slightly-dramatic night at Anfield.
In Spain, the latest dead heat came in 2006-07, when Real Madrid pipped Barcelona to the La Liga crown on the head-to-head record (a 2-0 Real win in Madrid, and a 3-3 draw at the Camp Nou), while in the Bundesliga in 1999-2000 it took goal difference to separate Bayern Munich and Bayer Leverkusen. Also notable in Germany was the 1983-84 season when three sides – VfB Stuttgart, Hamburg and Borussia Moenchengladbach – finished level on points, with VfB taking the title on goal difference.
Further down the football food chain, Gunnar Sveen has a tale from Norway's Tippelagen. "After 25 games of the 26-game 2004 season the two top teams were Rosenborg and Valerenga," he begins. "Before the final game both Rosenborg and Valerenga had 45 points, Rosenborg with the goal difference 48-33, Valerenga with 37-22 – 15 goals plus for each team.
"Rosenborg won their game at home with 4-1 against FC Lyn Oslo and Valerenga beat Stabaek 3-0, both teams ending with 48 points and the same goal difference, but Rosenborg had scored the most goals so they were the winners of the league in 2004. The game in Trondheim ended six minutes before the game in Oslo and those minutes were probably the most nervewrecking minutes in the history of Norwegian league football. Valerenga had their revenge in 2005, winning the league and ending Rosenborg's era of 13 consecutive league wins."
There as a similarly dramatic final day in Holland in 2006-07. Going into the final round of fixtures AZ Alkmaar, Ajax and PSV Eindhoven were level on 72 points, with AZ (+53) leading the two giants (+47 and +46 respectively) on goal difference. "AZ had their goalkeeper sent off after 15 minutes and ended up losing 3-2, while Ajax and PSV spent the of the afternoon trying to outscore each other in their respective games," writes Ruairi Smyth. "With 20 minutes to go PSV were winning 4-1 and Ajax winning 2-0, this left Ajax sitting in top spot on goals scored. But Philipe Cocu scored on the 77th minute and a 5-1 win was enough for PSV to claim the championship by a single goal of goal difference."
A trip to Greece in the swinging 60s brings us back to the original question of play-offs. AEK Athens and Panathinaikos had finished level on points in 1962-63, so reconvened for a play-off to decide the title. A thrilling game ended 3-3 (footage of which can be seen here) and despite Panathinaikos having a superior goal difference and having scored more goals, the title went to AEK on goal average.
That was a real season for play-off fans: it took a four-team six-game play-off to decide 12th to 15th in the top flight, which may seem OTT but credit must go to Greece for their determination to get things sorted one way or another. The same couldn't be said of Denmark in 1927-28. "In 1927-28, the Danish Football Championship was decided in a single round-robin between the five group winners of the preliminary stage," writes Henrik Hansen. "However, three clubs, B93, BK Frem and B1903, all finished with six points, and the rules did not state any tie-breaking criteria.
"The Danish Football Federation (DBU) decided to stage play-offs between the three clubs, but B93 and BK Frem refused to participate, and B1903 refused to win the championship title without playing. In the end, the DBU decided not to award the title that season."
GERMANS AND PENALTIES: MYTH OR REALITY?
"After Bayern's win over Real Madrid on penalties last week, everyone trotted out the usual 'Germans always win on penalties line," writes Joe Hartson. "Everyone says it, but is it true or just another football myth?"
With the national side it is certainly true in World Cups – four shoot-outs, four wins – while in the European Championships, they have a more modest 50% record with one win and one defeat, that coming in the final of Euro 1976.
As for their club sides after Bayern's win over Real, Germany (including back when it was East and West) had a record of 33 shootouts, with 23 wins and 10 defeats – an impressive record.
But that statistic has dropped since reaching its zenith after Schalke beat Inter 4-1 on penalties in the Uefa Cup final in 1996-97. After that win, Germany's record read played 25, won 20, lost five.
FOOTBALL CURSES (2)
Last week we looked at the clubs who have been hamstrung by curses, and, as ever, several more suggestions have since dropped into the Knowledge inbox.
Back in July 2001 Southampton secretary Brian Truscott described reports that Portsmouth-supporting builders had buried Pompey scarves and shirts in the brickwork around St Mary's as "total bollocks".
But when the Saints finally claimed their first win at the new stadium in November, white witch Cerradwen "Dragonoak" Connelly took the credit. "I performed a cleansing around the ground but athletes are a very superstitious bunch so I also did a blessing for positive energy," she told the Sun. "It obviously worked."
The manager Gordon Strachan was impressed: "If this is the result, she can take training for the next two weeks as well. I can get on with my golf and she can get rid of the ghosts. In fact, she can play up front next week."
Dragonoak is not the only witch to have been of use to a football club. "My local club Frome Town employed the services of a white witch to clear a curse from their ground back in 2004," writes Chris Turner. "I don't know if this was the reason, but the Robins have risen to their highest position in the pyramid subsequently."
And here's Will Shiel Dods with a tale from Scotland. "There is a story that after Dundee won the Scottish cup in 1910 they displayed it in a funeral directors shop window," he writes. "The legend has it that a passing gypsy was so offended by this display that she put a curse on the club. Dundee never won the cup again, finishing as runners up four times. City rivals Dundee United reached the final six times without winning and rumour has it that prior to their appearance in the 1994 final they got a priest to exorcise the curse. Whether or not that happened they were the first Dundee team to win the cup in 84 years."
KNOWLEDGE ARCHIVE
"Other than Blackburn's recent David Betnley gaffe, have there been any other instances of footballers' names being spelt wrongly on the back of their shirts?" asked Pete Warren back in the halcyon days of 2007.
Oh yes, Pete. Plenty. Let's start with the one that seems to have tickled most correspondents' fancy: the time David Beckham morphed into David 'Beckam' during the 1997 Charity Shield against Chelsea. "I thought the lads were winding me up," he is reported to have said at the time. "Then I saw it for myself. It was too late to do anything about it, so we all had a laugh instead."
If you think such basic typographical errors are limited to one of the richest sporting institutions in the world, you'd be half-right. When John O'Shea turned out for Manchester United against Real Madrid in the Champions League quarter-final second leg at Old Trafford in April 2003, his shirt bore the legend 'S'hea', prompting one talkboard wag to speculate that the club were saving their Os for the arrival of Wayne Rooney.
Completing an unholy trinity of United spelling howlers is their Polish goalkeeper Tomasz Kuszczak. Now, the potential pitfalls here demand sympathy. Except that the person responsible for imprinting names on shirts was presumably concentrating so hard on that tricky 'zcz' combo that when Kuszczak played only his second game for United, in a Carling Cup tie against Crewe in October 2006, he mysteriously became 'Zuszczak'.
Cláudio Gameiro writes from Portugal with news of the Sporting Lisbon striker Liedson, who might be the only player actually happy to live with a misprint. Liedson scored on debut in 2003, when the 's' in his name was printed the wrong way round. "That made it look like a z," says Cláudio, "and he continued to wear the z shirt for the rest of the season as a lucky charm and trademark. Apparently, it worked: he passed the 100-goal mark for Sporting a few weeks ago."
Steve Claridge can confirm he shrugged off the indignity of becoming "Clarridge" during a televised game for Leicester against Sheffield Wednesday in 1996-97 to score what Tom Reville describes as a "rare screamer", while Costa Rica's Mauricio Wright was turned into 'Wrigth' for his country's World Cup game against China in 2002.
And for the best howler-related chant? "There's only one h in Palace," as sung by the Selhurst Park faithful after the club's name was rendered "Chrystal" on the team shirt's badge in 2004.
For thousands more questions and answers take a trip through the Knowledge archive
Can you help?
"I recently read somewhere that the 1878 FA Cup final between Wanderers and Royal Engineers featured a goal by the Engineers which remains without a credited goalscorer," writes Greg Lea. "Playing the kick-and-rush tactics of the time, the whole team bundled the ball into the net and, without the ability to draw on instant replays, no one is sure who actually got the final touch. Are there any similar examples of this in more modern times?"
"Genoa recently sacked manager Alberto Malesani for the second time this season," notes Bogdan Kotarlic. "I wonder if any club has sacked the same manager more than two times during one, same season?"
"We were wondering if anyone had ever committed the unholy trinity of missing a penalty, scoring an own goal and being sent off in the same match?" write Richard & Andrew in Bristol.
"On 31 March 2012, towards the end of Stockport's heroic 3-1 win at Kettering a substitution took place with Daniel Lucas Rowe being replaced by Daniel Martin Rowe," begins Alex Dixon. "Both are known as Danny Rowe - is the first substitution involving two players with the same name?"
"Has a manager ever steered two different teams from the same city to relegation," wonders Kevin McAllister.
Send your questions and answers to knowledge@guardian.co.uk
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