Plus: keepers scoring winning penalties, Cruyff’s revenge and the Saints player who was offered the throne of Albania
“Mat Sadler scored for Walsall last Tuesday, which is a bit like a player called John Red Devil scoring for
Manchester United. Any other examples of players with the same name as their team’s nickname?” wonders Tom
England.
We were hoping somebody called Grauniad might answer this question. Alas not, but the rest of you did a pretty good
Job. Let’s start with a singular example from the West Midlands. “A mere six miles from Walsall along the A454, John de Wolf scored five goals in 28 games for Wolves in the mid-1990s. Not an exact match, but it counts. And in
Germany, Wolfgang Wolf coached VfL Wolfsburg – whose nickname is Die Wolfe – from 1998 to 2003.”