Ask Albert - Number 1

Jeff Morgan, Norfolk

Does the new season kick-off at the same time for all the different leagues next season?

No, the start of the 2000/2001 in Britain takes place over three different weekends. The Scottish leagues start on the weekend of 29/30. The Nationwide League kick-off two weeks later on 12 August while the FA Carling Premiership and Conference do not get going until the weekend of 19/20 August.

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Lee Senior, Spenswick

Who was the last Leeds man to win Player of the Year?

Gordon Strachan was the last - he won the Football Writers' Footballer of the Year trophy in 1991. Norman Hunter won the PFA's first Player of the Year award in 1974.

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Darren, Bungay

How many goals did Jimmy Greaves score in his career, for clubs and country?

Jimmy's phenomenal scoring career (1957-71) added up to 480 goals in 674 first team appearances.

They comprised 414 in 591 games for his three English clubs, Chelsea, Tottenham and West Ham; nine in 14 for Inter Milan; 44 in 57 full internationals for England; 13 in 12 matches for England u-23s.

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Jayson Grant, England

What is the point of the D outside the penalty area?

It ensures that all the other players are at least 10 yards away from a player taking a penalty.

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Kevin, Scotland

Can you name the three brothers who played together in the same First Division team around 1985-90?

They were the Wallace brothers. Danny was 24 and twins Rodney and Ray were 19 when they first lined up for Southampton against Sheffield Wednesday on 22 October, 1988.

Between then and September 1989 they played together 25 times for the Saints.

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Dan, England

Can the goalkeeper, in his penalty area, put the ball inside his jersey, then run the length of the field and into the opposition's net for a goal? Technically, he would not be handling the ball.

Thanks for the laugh, Dan. I'd love to see it tried, but your man wouldn't get away with it. He would be pulled up for ungentlemanly conduct or, in the coming season, for failing to release the ball inside six seconds.

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Karl Pedersen, England

Who scored when Cardiff City beat Arsenal 1-0 in the 1927 Cup final?

It was Scottish centre forward Hugh Ferguson after 73 minutes. Dan Lewis, Arsenal's Welsh international goalkeeper, had the shot covered, but the ball bounced off his chest and over the line.

That remains the only time the Cup has been won by a club outside England.

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Jim Buckley, England

Is the white line marking the perimeter of the pitch part of the playing area? Similarly, is the line marking out the penalty area part of the penalty area?

The anwer is 'yes' to both these questions. So the whole of the ball has to be over the pitch perimeter line for it to be out of play.....and it's a penalty if an offence against the attacking side is committed on the line that defines the penalty area.

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Lazarus, Scotland

Can a player deliberately shoot an indirect free-kick towards goal, hoping to get a ricochet to take the ball into the net...and would the goal stand?"

The goal would be 'good' if it went in off the keeper or off any other player, providing there was no infringement of the Laws.

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Dirk Bol, England

Have a father and son ever played against each other in an international?

Not as far as I know. But Iceland made father-and-son history when they beat Estonia 3-0 away in April 1996. Arnor Gudjohnsen, aged 35, was in their starting line-up and was replaced after 62 minutes by his 17-year-old son Eidur.

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Tim Colman, England

We recently had this question at a quiz: Apart from handling the ball, what can a goalkeeper do that no other player on the field can do? It has us stumped.

I've checked with the rules experts at the F.A., and they'd not heard this one before. It baffled them, too. I suggest the only thing a 'keeper can do that other players can't is... face a penalty-kick.