CRAZY BUT TRUE

ON THE AT TIMES ZANY WORLD OF FOOTBALL

- MICHAEL STEWART

WE ALL have something that fascinates us about football. That magic that keeps us coming back for more.

Dundee United have a 100 per cent winning record against Barcelona. Now you may be thinking they’ve only ever played once. But that’s simply not true. Dundee United have played the Spanish giants four times and won every single match. Twice in 1966-67 and twice in 1986-87. Not a bad thing to brag about!

Robert Earnshaw is the only player to have scored a hat-trick in all the divisions of the Football League, the Premier League, the League and FA Cup and also internationally. Not bad considering he scored 200-or-so career goals.

Obafemi Martins and Bobby Zamora are the only two players in the Premier League to have scored a penalty with both feet. Just goes to show they’re equally as deadly from the spot with either foot.

Ruud van Nistelrooy scored 150 goals for Manchester United. Only one goal against Charlton was scored from outside the box. Now that’s the true definition of a poacher.

Polish side Widzew Lodz are the only club this century to defend the title of second division champions. They won it in 2007-08 and got promoted to Ekstraklasa but were relegated back down immediately, due to their involvement in a corruption scandal. In 2008-09, they won it again. And they say crime doesn’t pay!

Bringing celery to Chelsea’s Stamford Bridge is outlawed and could get you a lifetime ban. After a rather nasty chant involving the vegetable grew in popularity in the 2000s, fans began chucking it onto the pitch - which resulted in a ban by the club. And you thought the days of crazy rules were a thing of the past.