Knowledge Unlimited (original) (raw)

Have you any idea what happened to the Manchester United and West Bromwich Albion midfield power-house Remi Moses, who was also partial to giving Jesper Olsen a slap once in a while? wonders Pete Leary.

Yes we do. Since retiring, Remi has settled down in the Alkrington area of Great Manchester, where he earns his money buying and selling property. In his spare time he's also a coach for the Manchester Warriors U-20 inline skating side, which (you've guessed it) have recently won the GB Inline Hockey League and every other trophy going.

According to Debbie Callaghan, a mother of one of the players: "Remi's absolutely brilliant. He's a real inspiration to the lads. In the four years he's been coaching they've won everything - much to the disgust of everyone else. He's a top bloke - he applauds skill all the time, and you don't get that from other managers. His saying is: 'Win when you can, but not at all costs.' His sons are both brilliant at in-line skating, which is how he got involved."

If you're interested, the Warriors train every Thursday at Bowlers Park in Trafford Park.

I recently read that Bayern Munich could have become the first German side to win the domestic double and European Cup in the same season this year. As everyone knows, it happened for the first time in England last season - are there any other European clubs that have completed this treble? asks Simon Tyers.

Celtic were the first team to win a domestic double and the European Cup in the same season. In 1967, Jock Stein's famous side won every single competition they entered, also bagging the Scottish League Cup and the Glasgow Cup (which in those days was a first-team tournament). Two other teams managed to land the treble before Manchester United did it last year, and both were Dutch: Ajax in 1972, PSV in 1988.

Near misses? The following domestic and European champions have lost their cup final - surely the easiest and least-important part of the treble - in the same year: Real Madrid (1958), Internazionale (1965), Ajax (1972), Liverpool (1977), Steaua Bucharest (1986) and Red Star Belgrade (1991). Marseille would also be included in this group for their 1993 exploits, but they were stripped of both European Cup and French league after a match-fixing scandal. If only they'd beaten PSG in the Cup final...

Which footballer has won 14 league titles, the European Cup, Uefa Cup, League Cup, FA Cup, European player of the year and once scored 40 goals in a season? asked Rob Jordan last week. We thought the question was fake - and we challenged you to prove us wrong.

We had loads of suggestions for the mystery man, including Kenny Daglish, Eusebio, Ian Rush and even Clive Allen! But as Pete Allen (and several others) suggest, the answer must be Roy Race, he of the Rovers and the subject of questions such as 'Who scored the wining goal in a FA Cup final and then put on the goalkeepers jersey to save a penalty?'. Thanks to everyone who put us out of our misery.

What became of Idwal Robling, the winner of the BBC's "Find a Commentator" competition before the 1970 World Cup? enquired Simon Kaplan.

"Poor Idwal Robling," sighs Craig Thomas (the only person who bothered to write in). "As a second-class citizen - ie. Welsh - he never stood a chance in the big leagues, so he spent a number of years commentating on football for BBC Wales."

I recently had an argument with a hairdresser as to the origins of David Beckham. We both agreed on his upbringing in London, but disagreed on which club he began his training with. I was sure that someone told me it was Tottenham, while he insisted that it was Arsenal. A free haircut is riding on this, so if you could enlighten me on the correct answer I would be very much obliged asked Tom H last week.

Following last week's Knowledge Unlimited, we had an email from Tobias Best. He says that David Beckham was not raised in Leytonstone, but in Chingford. 'This is a commonly made mistake because he was born in Whipps Cross hospital, Leytonstone,' he adds.

Tobias also claims: "The first team Beckham trained with (and played for) was a local team also based in Chingford called Ridgeway Rovers. He attended a number of Junior Spurs training sessions as a youth but always wore a Man Utd shirt (though he told us no-one seemed to mind too much), so theoretically the first Premiership team he trained with were Tottenham although he was never on their books.

"By the way, I am not some expert biographer but I know all of this because I went to the same school as him in Chingford."

An aeon ago we asked: 'What comes onto the pitch at half time, and doesn't leave until after the game on a Saturday, and not until the next day on a Wednesday? After a while we dismissed it as a fake question from the devious mind of the Fiver's second-favourite commentator, Fox TV's Lionel Bienvenu. However we recently received a letter from Paul Reeve which said:

"I don't know if this is genuinely a fake question with no answer, but one answer that seems to fit is fork marks: the groundsmen go round prodding the turf at half-time, and these marks aren't removed until next time they roll the pitch or whatever. On Saturdays, they do it after the game: weekdays, matches are in the evenings, so it doesn't get done until next day.'

Can you help?

Can anybody tell me when the dug-out was invented ? Was it during the famous Christmas ceasefire football game in World War I ? wonders Mario Kerssens.

Do you know why the "nutmeg" manoeuvre is so called, and if so, who coined the term? enquires Paul Stearn.

How many opposition players have scored hat-tricks at Old Trafford? And who were they? asks Marc Beauge.

Send your answers to the.boss@theguardian.com and we'll do our best to answer them.