Odd One Out: British Football Trivia Quiz

Answer: Inverness Caledonian Thistle

Inverness Caledonian Thistle stands alone as the non-Glasgow club of the four choices, it is located (not surprisingly) in Inverness, the 'Capital of the Highlands'. Celtic and Rangers are world-known for their Catholic-Protestant Glasgow rivalry and their fiercely contested local derbies. Queen's Park, on the the other hand, live in a shadow thrown by their more illustrious rivals. Having said that, Queen's Park can lay claim to having played at Hampden Park (where Cup Finals and Internationals are played) many more times than either Celtic or Rangers, as it is their home ground!

Answer: Michael Gray

Michael Gray is the odd one out, as the others are related. Eddie Gray was a perfect example of a winger in the original mould. He played for Leeds United during their glory years, his playing career spanning 1966-1985. During this period he scored 68 goals in 561 games. Eddie has also served as the clubs Manager, Assistant Manager and Youth Team coach. Amazingly, his playing career for Scotland totaled a meagre 12 games.

Frank Gray played for Leeds in two separate periods, 1973-1979 and 1981-1985. He scored 35 goals in almost 400 appearances. Frank holds a record that can never be taken from him, that being the first player to appear for two different English clubs in a European Cup Final (Leeds United vs Bayern Munich, 1975, and Nottingham Forest vs Hamburg, 1980). He played 32 times for Scotland, scoring one goal.

Andy Gray is Frank's son, and therefore, Eddie's nephew. He made his debut at Leeds in 1995 and has subsequently been somewhat of a journeyman, playing at many clubs. He has represented Scotland at senior level once (against Lithuania in 2003). Michael Gray played ten matches for Leeds United on loan from Blackburn Rovers at the end of the 2004-05 season, scoring no goals. Michael Gray is not related to any of the others.

Another sharp-eyed quiz player pointed out that Michael Gray only represented Leeds in a loan capacity, so that is another way of looking at it.

Answer: Johnny Giles

Johnny Giles is the odd one out. Irish he may be, but more specifically, he played for the Republic of Ireland - at least in footballing terms. Of the other choices, David Healy played for Leeds United and set a record for Northern Ireland's top goalscorer in Internationals. Harry Gregg was Manchester United's goalkeeper during the era of the 'Busby Babes'. Gregg survived the Munich air disaster of 1958, and was feted as a hero for pulling a number of his teammates from the burning plane.

He played 25 times for his country. Derek Dougan was capped 43 times for Northern Ireland.

The lanky sideburned striker is best remembered for the twilight times of his career with Wolverhampton Wanderers in the 1970s, but few realise he was part of the Northern Irish World Cup squad of 1958!

Answer: North Road

North Road was the home of Old Boys (later Barrow Town) from some time in the early to mid 1930s until the Second World War. Hyde Road was Manchester City's initial venue from 1887-1923. Lack of ability to develop the stadium due to the closeness of other infrastructure forced a move to Maine Road.

This remained the home ground until 2003, when the club moved to the City Of Manchester Stadium, which was used for the 2002 Commonwealth Games.

Answer: Craig Johnston (Liverpool)

Craig Johnston did not play for Australia. He played a number of games for England at Under-21 and 'B' team level and was called into the senior squad in 1988, but did not play. John Kosmina played 60 internationals for Australia between 1977 and 1988, scoring 25 goals.

In contrast, he played part of one game in the English League for Arsenal, coming on as a substitute against Leeds United in August 1978. Adrian (Noddy) Alston appeared for his country in the 1974 World Cup Finals in West Germany and signed for Luton Town in June of the same year.

He scored 7 goals in 39 games for Australia between 1969 and 1974. Scott McDonald was a Motherwell striker who made his senior debut for Australia against Bahrain in February 2006 in an Asian Cup qualifying match.

Answer: Workington

In 1951, North Eastern League side Workington became the first club ever to be admitted to the Football League under the newly-created 'election' system. They replaced New Brighton. However, they only lasted 26 years prior to themselves losing their League status under the same system, when in 1977 they were replaced by Wimbledon (later known un-traditionally as the M.K. (Milton Keynes) Dons), from the Southern League. Of the others, in 1960 Peterborough United from the Midland League replaced Gateshead, 1970 saw Cambridge United of the Southern League replace Bradford Park Avenue, and in 1972 Hereford United, also from the Southern League, replaced Barrow in the old Division Four.

Answer: Bristol City

The other three clubs are based inside Wales. Wrexham, Swansea City, and Cardiff City all play in the Football League despite being geographically located outside of England. Both Cardiff City and Swansea City have played in the League's highest division. Cardiff's 2nd place in 1924 was the highest place ever acheived by a Welsh club, and in 1927 they won the F.A. Cup Final, the first time the trophy had left England. Alas, Wrexham have never reached the heights of the other two Welsh clubs.

Answer: 1994 Aston Villa v Manchester United

The Aston Villa v Manchester United Final finished 3-1 to Villa. All the other choices had an aggregate of 5 goals in the Final, the winners being Chelsea, Luton Town and Queens Park Rangers.

Answer: Rodney Marsh (Manchester City)

For those of us who can remember back that far, the list involves some very solid players from the '70s, but it's a bit hard to imagine that three of those four were the subject of record transfer fees.

Perhaps surprisingly, Rodney Marsh is the odd player out. In 1972, he transferred from Queen's Park Rangers to Manchester City for a then-club record fee of £200,000, however, this was already below the existing record of £220,000 Arsenal had paid to Everton earlier in the year for Alan Ball's services.

In regard to the others, David Nish joined Derby County from Leicester City in 1972 for £250,000 (surpassing the previously mentioned transfer fee for Alan Ball).

David Mills moved from Middlesbrough to West Bromwich Albion for £516,000 in 1979 (topping the £500,000 record set by Kevin Keegan's move from Liverpool to Hamburg in 1978).

Steve Daley transferred from Wolverhampton Wanderers to Manchester City for £1,437,500 in 1979 (eclipsing the £1,180,000 record set by the move of Trevor Francis from Birmingham City to Nottingham Forest in 1979).

You can make up your own minds. Nish better than Ball? Daley worth more than Francis? Mills a greater asset than Keegan? It's worth considering. In the author's opinion: No, no and no!

Answer: Memorial Stadium

Bristol Rovers' Memorial Stadium has a ground capacity of 11,916. Cup Finals were held at Wembley continuously from 1923 to 2000 inclusive. The only break to this sequence was the 1970 Final Replay, in which Chelsea defeated Leeds United 2-1 at Manchester United's Old Trafford ground.

After the 2000 Final in which Chelsea defeated Aston Villa 2-0, the Wembley Stadium was closed for re-development. After the closure, FA Finals were held at Cardiff's Millenium Stadium and until the re-developed Wembley opened in 2007.