How close is Petr Cech to a world record?

Plus: the fastest own-goal; keepers being caught offside; champions getting relegated; and when did United and Arsenal last play at 3pm on a Saturday? Email
Petr Cech
Petr Cech: nowhere near the record, in fact

"Chelsea have kept successive nine clean sheets in the league and haven't conceded a goal for 871 minutes, a Premiership record," says Steve Riordan. "What is the record for the number of consecutive clean sheets/minutes without conceding in English football?

Firstly, it seems only fair to point out that Cech's personal record is even longer than that, since he went 928 minutes without sullying his sheets when at Sparta Prague. To beat the English record, however, he'll have to hold out a little longer. Steve Death terrified strikers so much while in goal for Reading that he managed 11 consecutive clean sheets in 1979, going 1,103 minutes without conceding in all.

However the British record is 1,196 minutes, by former England goalkeeper Chris Woods, playing for Rangers in 1986-87. And the world record - a whopping 1,275 minutes - was set by Abel Resino of Atletico Madrid in 1990-91. Only 404 minutes to go.


"Who holds the record for the fastest own goal, and what was the official time recorded?" asks Tom Lawrence.

Our instinct was that it was Steve Bould, who shanked comically past John Lukic at Hillsborough 13 seconds into a league game against Sheffield Wednesday in February 1990.

But Pat Kruse, erstwhile Torquay clogger of the seventies, went a full seven seconds better than that. On January 3, 1977 Cambridge United kicked off a league match by lumping the ball straight downfield, and Kruse leapt to head the ball past his goalkeeper. Genius. The goal was timed at six seconds and remains a record in British football.

Anyone know of a faster own goal around the world? Email


"I was lying in bed the other night and wondering if a goalkeeper had ever been caught offside," says Ethan Mackintosh. "Like Peter Schmeichel in a desperate dash at the death, or something?"

As many of you pointed out, Ethan has pretty much answered his own question. On February 4, 1997, in an FA Cup fourth-round replay, Manchester United were trailing going into injury-time when Schmeichel did his usual cavalry charge. After a deep corner was headed back into the box by Gary Pallister, Schmeichel sent a spectacular scissors-kick flying into the corner - only to be flagged offside, with about four other United players.

Any other offside keepers? Email


"It looks likely that John Jensen's side Herfølge, who won the Danish championship in 2000, are going to get relegated this season. Has that ever happened to any other team in Europe?" asked Peter Kargaard back in 2001.

"I'm sure many Manchester United supporters will, like me, be delighted to inform Mr Kargaard that Manchester City achieved this feat in 1937-38, having been champions in 1936-37," says Brian Spurrell. "The really delicious thing about that season is that the City somehow contrived to be relegated while scoring more goals than anybody else in the division, even the champions Arsenal."

Gerard Sugrue points out that Lyn Oslo took the champs-to-chumps route in Norway. "As I remember they met Leeds United in the 1969-1970 European Cup competition, losing 10-0 and 6-0," he says. "And because the Norwegian season ran through the summer, Lyn had already been relegated when they made their appearance in the European Cup. Which prompts the follow-up question: how many second division teams have appeared in the European Cup?"

Also in 1968, 1.FC Nuremberg won the last of their nine German championships and were relegated the following season. "They have never really recovered from this blow," says Andreas Lorenczuk.

The strangest decline of them all however was in Finland, where Tampereen Pallo-Veikot won the title in 1994 and were relegated the next season only for the same fate to afflict the 1995 champions Valkeakosken Haka. "The distance between Tampere and Valkeakoski is less than 20 miles," says Kari Tuovinen, "So there must have been some kind of curse on that area at that time." Sounds reasonable to us.

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"Given that their matches always seems to be televised, when did Manchester United last play Arsenal at 3pm on a Saturday?" asks Rowan Wijegoonawardena.

It was on November 16, 1996, when United ended a humbling run of four defeats in five games - whappings at Newcastle (5-0) and Southampton (6-3) among them - with a 1-0 victory, courtesy of a comedy own goal from Nigel Winterburn in a match best remembered for the first significant spat between Peter Schmeichel and Ian Wright. And the epics that shoved United and Arsenal off the Sky screens? Derby 2 Middlesboro 1, and Sheffield Wednesday 2 Nottm Forest 0.

Can you help

"Given what happened at Highbury last week, has a player ever been sent off in the tunnel before a game?" asks Neil Baynham.

"Is Rangers' 7-1 win over Dundee United a record for a semi-final?" asks John McDougall.

Send your questions and answers to