"When was the last time an FA Cup game involving Manchester United was not shown on live TV?" asks Jenny Middleton.
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You have to go back to 8 January 2005, when a team including Mr Shakira drew 0-0 at home to Exeter, to find the last time United played an FA Cup game that wasn't shown live. Saturday's match against Fulham will be United's 38th FA Cup tie since then; that's quite a cup run. We don't know precisely how much United have received from TV companies for all those games, but it may well have paid for Bébé.
That Exeter game is, according to our resident United cheerleader, one of only two FA Cup ties that has not been shown live since February 1998 and one of only eight out of the last 88 ties, going back to February 1993: Charlton 1993-94, Wrexham 1994-95, Sunderland 1995-96 (the first game), Reading 1995-96, Wimbledon 1996-97 (the first game), Walsall 1997-98, Aston Villa 2003-04 and Exeter 2004-05.
Can anybody beat United's 38-game TV cup run? If so, contact knowledge@guardian.co.uk
AGEING MANAGERIAL ROOKIES
"Ally McCoist was three months shy of his 48th birthday when he took his first ever manager's post at Rangers," writes Tom Mcgalpine. "Does this make him the oldest managerial 'rookie' in football's top flight?"
"George Allison took over at Arsenal on 30 May 1934 aged 50 years and 218 days (born 24 October 1883)," says Andy Kelly. "This was his first ever managerial appointment. Les Reed was 53 years and 337 days old when he was appointed caretaker manager of Charlton on 14 November 2006." John Morrow has more. "I suppose it depends how you define a manager but two obvious examples of older people spring to mind from the Premier League. If caretaker spells are included, in 2003 a 54-year-old Trevor Brooking, who had never managed a club, took charge of struggling West Ham after Glenn Roeder suffered complications from a brain tumour. On the other hand if only full-time gaffers are meant then in 1995 Alan Ball left Southampton to manage Manchester City and was surprisingly replaced by Dave Merrington, a 50-year-old member of the coaching staff who had never previously been a full-time manager (although he had briefly been Sunderland's caretaker manager twice before)."
Nigel Morrison, however, thinks he is carrying the trump card: Old Joe Fagan. "Joe Fagan took over Liverpool at the age of 62, and promptly won the league, European Cup and League Cup in his first season, before reaching another European Cup final and promptly retiring at the end of the next season."
This would surely be the winner – but it transpires Fagan was player-manager of Lancashire League club Nelson almost 30 years before he became Liverpool boss. So, depending on whether you count caretaker managers, the oldest rookie we have found so far is either Brooking or Reed.
Do you know any quinquagenarian or sexagenarian managerial rookies? If so, you know what to do
SCORING AGAINST YOUR FUTURE TEAM
"Having scored against West Ham on 9 December 2012, Joe Cole went on to sign for the Hammers just over three weeks later," muses Mat Owen. "What is the shortest period of time between a player scoring against a team and then signing up with them?"
We hear all the time about players scoring against their old club, but it's common enough for them to score against their future club too. "On 2 September 2012, the Icelandic winger Rurik Gislason scored the final goal in a 2-2 home draw for Odense Boldklub (OB) against Danish Superleague dominators FC Copenhagen," writes Lars Bogegaard. "A day later he joined FC Copenhagen." Mark Andrews can go one better. "On 13 November 2007, Jon Main scored for Tonbridge Angels against AFC Wimbledon in a Ryman League Premier Division match," explains Mark. "After the game Jon signed for Wimbledon, so there were only a couple of hours between him scoring against them and signing for them. He made his debut four days later on 17 November 2007."
Any more for any more? If so, you know what to do
KNOWLEDGE ARCHIVE
"I cannot recall a professional player ever having to leave the field due to a call of nature. I am sure this must have happened; does anyone remember any such incident?" asked M Munro back in 2001.
Such incidents certainly have occurred, Mr Munro. Peter Kargaard remembered that Thomas Brolin once waddled off the pitch while playing for Parma for a quick wee-wee, while Martin Ridges said that Terry Curran did exactly the same thing between the end of normal time and the start of extra-time during a League Cup match in the 1978-79 season.
Unfortunately, some players don't bother heading to the dressing room to let fly with a steaming jet. "Gordon Strachan tells a story of a pre-season friendly in Portugal where one of the Benfica players knelt down during the game and had a slash on the pitch," recollected Simon Thomas. "No doubt Gordon's sliding tackles improved no end."
John Murphys had a similar tale. "About 10 years ago an Athletic Bilbao player came out for the second half in Cadiz and was photographed having a slash against the goal post just before the match restarted."
As for vomit, we could remember Middlesbrough's Gianluca Festa honking up on the sidelines just before the second half of the 2000 Boxing Day fixture with Liverpool – probably one turkey leg too many and definitely nothing to do with booze.
(Since we answered this question, way back when, there have been some fairly famous calls of nature involving Gary Lineker, Jens Lehmann, DaMarcus Beasley and Paul Gothard.)
CAN YOU HELP?
"Who has had the most different roles in the game (Sven has done coach, manager, tech dir, ambassador)?" tweets Daniel Storey.
"Is Michael Appleton trying to set a record for the most clubs managed in a season? What is the record?" muses Diggo Blick.
"Craig Noone plays for Cardiff City," begins Alistair Murdoch. "My mind being what it is, I can't help reading 'No-one' whenever I see his name. That can lead to some interesting match reports ('Noone scored a fantastic goal' – so why bother saying so?). Have there ever been any players with similarly misleading/confusing names? In particular, has there ever been a player whose surname really was 'Trialist'?"
"In 2010-11 Henri Lansbury, on loan from Arsenal, was part of the Norwich City side that won promotion from the Championship," begins Simon Bradley. "Unfortunately for Henri, he was unable to enjoy the spoils of promotion the following season, as his parent club sent him on loan to West Ham United for the entirety of the 2011-12 season. During that year, Lansbury played a role in West Ham's successful promotion push, but was again denied a place in the Premier League when Arsenal sold him to Nottingham Forest. It is not out of the realms of possibility that Forest might sneak in to the top flight via the play-offs this season, meaning Henri would have won promotion from the same division three seasons running. Would this be some sort of record?"
Send your questions and answers to knowledge@guardian.co.uk
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