Q. from Neville Cooper, location unknown, 31 December 2001:  Who were the three players to captain the England senior team last season?  

A. from PY.  The three players who served as England captain last season [2000-01] were Tony Adams, Martin Keown and David Beckham.  

Q. from Neville Cooper, location unknown, 31 December 2001:  Another couple of questions I would like answering are:  1. Which international team went 45 games between 1993-1997 unbeaten? 2. How many games did Pele play at Wembley?

A. from PY.  As far as I can tell, no country meets the specifications you set forward for an unbeaten streak.  The record is 36 by Brazil between 1993 and 1996.  Check out the list of countries' unbeaten streaks in the Rec.Sport.Soccer Statistical Foundation Archive.  Pele never played at Wembley.

Q. from Neville Cooper, location unknown, 30 December 2001:  Why was the 1979 England v. Bulgaria game called off?

A. from PY.  It was postponed for one day because of fog at Wembley.  That meant Kevin Keegan could not play since he had to return to his club side, Hamburg.

Q. from John Hall, Manchester, England, 29 December 2001:  Who was the last person to play senior internationals for England whilst still being a Portsmouth player?

A. from PY.  Mark Hateley.  His last match for England as a Portsmouth player was the scoreless draw with Chile in Santiago on 17 June 1984.

Q. from Brian Joyce, location unknown, 29 December 2001:  There are three father/son England players.  Can you name them ?  

A. from P.Y. The answer is on our Trivia page. Scroll down to the centred heading "Relatives" and you will find an entry under Fathers and Sons.

Q. from Richard Holtom, location unknown, 28 December 2001:  Who was the first full England international footballer to be sent off whilst playing for England?

A. from PY.  There's a chronological list of England sendings off posted on the website.

Q. from Garrod, location unknown, 27 December 2001:  What shirt number does Steven Gerrard wear when playing for England?

A. from PY.  England players don't have permanent numbers assigned to them, although there is a proposal to do that under consideration.  Against Germany, Gerrard wore No. 4.

Q. from Adam Wallace, Japan, 14 December 2001:  How many times did B. Robson, and G. Hoddle play against Wales before the Home Championship was abolished?

A. from PY.  Glenn Hoddle played three times against Wales:

17 May 1980 Wrexham Wales 4 England 1, 20 May 1981 Wembley England 0 Wales 0, and 27 April 1982 Ninian Park Wales 0 England 1

Bryan Robson played twice against Wales, in the 20 May 1981 and 27 April 1982 matches. England have not played Wales since the British or Home International Championship was abolished.

Q. from Richard Endacott, location unknown, 14 December 2001:  Which player has made the most appearances at Wembley in total including club and country?

PY:  Your question is outside our purview since the answer involves a knowledge of domestic as well as international football, and I don't know the answer offhand.  But the official Wembley website has a search engine which allows searches by player name which produce the total number of times the player has played at Wembley.  On the supposition--which I would think correct--that the player who has played most at Wembley is one of those who has been most capped by England, I ran searches for the five players with the most caps, Peter Shilton, Bobby Moore, Bobby Charlton, Billy Wright and Bryan Robson.  Here are the results (which include club as well as national team appearances at Wembley):

Shilton - 56, Charlton - 48, Robson - 48, Moore - 46, Wright - 27.

You can try the the Wembley website search engine yourself using any name you want.

Postscript from CG.  There is now a full and complete list on the Website.

Q. from Ian West, Derbyshire, England, 11 December 2001:  Apart from the Charltons and the Nevilles, which other brothers have played for England?

A. from PY.  You can find the answer on our Trivia page.  Scroll down to the centred heading "Relatives" and look under "Brothers."

Q. from Simon Rossington, location unknown, 7 December 2001:  Great site boys!  Do you know any links so I can get hold of that '5-1 scoreboard shot'.  I think it will look good as my desktop wallpaper.

A. from PY.  The Nationwide Football website still has the Munich scoreboard wallpaper, but you should hurry to get it because there's no telling how long it will stay available.

Q. from Tony Spencer, Hampshire, England, 7 December 2001:  Arthur D. Turner was born 1877 in Farnborough, Hants, and "SaintsWorld" (a fan site for Southampton FC) seem to think he was the first Hampshire-born player to represent England.  He had trials with Brentford and Reading in his position of outside right.  He was transferred from Camberley St Michael's (although 1 source says it was Camberley St Mary's - and, unfortunately there are churches of both names in the town) in 1899 to Southampton FC, where he gained his 2 caps (both against Ireland in Dublin in 1900 and The Dell, Southampton in 1901).  Then he moved to Derby County for 1902/3 season playing 21 times and scoring once.  In 1903/4 he signed for Newcastle United and played 13 times scoring once.  Southampton FC then believe he played briefly for Tottenham Hotspur, but I cannot find any link there so far.  In 1904 he returned to Saints, before retiring from professional football at the end of the 1904/5 season, having made a total of 78 Southern League appearances with 24 goals, and 20 FA Cup appearances with 6 goals.  Returning to his home town of Farnborough, he played football and cricket for the South Farnborough Athletic club probably up to the Great War, eventually leading them into the Southern League in 1909. The SFA records are confusing because he is variously described as "Arthur" and "Archie", and his brother Harry also figures in the archives, having followed him to Southampton and on to SFA.  He died in Farnborough in 1925 and am presently searching for an obituary.  SaintsWorld say they have a photograph of Arthur Turner, but have not yet sent it to me.  My request is:  Do you have match reports from the two Internationals that A Turner appeared in?  Do you have any other information about this individual?

A from PY.  I've checked my files and my football history books and am afraid all I have on Arthur Turner is a short entry in Douglas Lamming's An English Football Internationalists' Who's Who.  You've given me quite a bit of information on Turner, which I've saved in my player files, so I'm the one who owes you thanks.  If you write or publish anything about him, I'd be interested in seeing it.

Here is the full entry from Lamming's superb work:

"TURNER, Arthur
(Southampton, 1900-01, 2)
Born:  Farnborough, Hants. 1877  Died 4 April 1925.
1903:  5ft. 8 ins.; 11st. 10 lbs.
Career:  Aldershot North End 1892-94; South Farnborough; Camberley St
Michael's; Southampton 1899; Derby County May 1902; Newcastle United January
1903; Tottenham Hotspur February 1904 (£150); Southampton again cs 1904;
retired cs 1905.  Other honours: (Soton) Southern League champions 1901; FA
Cup finalist 1900, 1902.

"Outside-right very much the opportunist type.  He would pounce on the slimmest of chances eventually parting with the ball to the most advantageously placed colleague.  Left the first-class game early - when only 28 - and returned to his native Farnborough, there joining his father's business."

Lamming says in an appendix that 19 England players were born in Hampshire.  That's as of about 1990, when his book was [revised]. 
 

Q. from David Davies, location unknown, 7 December 2001:  Which footballer has made the most number of appearances for the England under 21 side?

A. from PY.  It's Jamie Carragher, 27 Under-21 caps through England's match with Greece in June.  He did not play again for the Under-21s.  On the current squad the player with the most caps is Jonathan Greening with 15.

Q. from Alastair Bartlett, location not known, 6 December 2001:  How do I go about getting membership to the England Supporters club?

A. from PY.  The Football Association website has the information.

Q. from Brian Clarke, Kettering, England, 3 December 2001:  Could you please tell me who was the 1000th football player to be capped by England at full international level?

A. from PY.  Yes, it was Neil Webb.

PY