"Watching the new, exciting Chelsea beat Birmingham last weekend, I got to thinking about all the fuss we had two years ago when there were only 19 goals on the first weekend of the Premiership," says Ken Whannel. "What has been the best opening weekend in the history of the English top flight in terms of goals-per-game scored?"

For the winner you have to go all the way back to the Football League's third-ever season in 1890-91, when only 10 of the league's 12 teams played in the first round of matches, combining for an impressive 29 goals (5.8 per game). Of course, those figures were slightly skewed by Derby County's 8-5 win over Blackburn, but every team scored at least once, with Accrington's 1-1 draw with Burnley the lowest-scoring fixture. As fate would have it Derby were the only team not to score in the second-most exciting opening day, going down 1-0 at Preston North End three seasons later as the league's 16 teams combined for 38 goals (4.75 per game).

Since the Premiership began the highest goals-per-game ratio on week one has been a rather less spectacular 3.6, achieved in 2003-04 when Blackburn's 5-1 win over Wolves contributed one sixth of the weekend's 36 strikes. The highest tally of goals (rather than goals-per-game) for an English top-flight opening weekend, meanwhile, came in 1926-27, when 22 teams combined for 52 goals (4.73 per game).

And since we've gone to the bother of trawling through all these numbers we might as well also let you know that the most boring opening day was that of the 1898-99 season, when only four teams played, scoring three goals in total (1.375 per game). And all of those came in Everton's 2-1 win over Blackburn. In fact, that was one of only two occasions before the advent of the Premier League when there were less goals scored than sides involved on the opening weekend - the other being 1912-13, when 12 scored 10 (1.67 per game). In the 16 seasons (including this one) since the Premier League's inception, it has happened twice more - in 2005-06, as Ken mentions, and also in 1998-99, when 18 goals were scored (1.8 per game).

FOOTBALLERS RELEASING A RECORD (2)

Last week we reported on the footballers that had, wisely or not, released music records. But it seems that a few slipped through our net ...

"Benni McCarthy, who was mentioned in this feature last week, had a No1 hit in South Africa with local Kwaito group TKZee ," recalls Mike Graham. "The song was Shibobo , which is South African slang for nutmegging the ball through an opponent's legs. It was actually very good."

Even more impressive is this from Johannes Irmer: "You might want to check out this website ," he presupposes. "As it's a German website, it might be slanted a bit towards German players, but you'll also find Kevin Keegan and others there." Check out Keegan's hilarious Head Over Heels In Love (Move On Down) , England (Somebody Needs) and It Ain't Easy (Do I Know You) album covers. "One of the all-time gems is Franz Beckenbauer's Gute Freunde kann niemand trennen ('You can't separate best friends', roughly), which to this day remains a favourite at Munich's Oktoberfest, where it's sung by thousands of drunk Germans every year."

Our own personal faves from that website have to be I I Am Am Jay Jay by Jay Jay Okocha, Toni Polster & die Fabulosen Thekenschlampen's Toni lass es polstern , Gerd Muller's Dann macht es bumm ("Then It Goes Boom") and Carsten Ramelow's Sing When You're Winning .

"Ruud Gullit enjoyed a brief yet decent music career in the eighties as a reggae singer," adds Meir Moses. "He actually performed credibly as a solo singer and with a band called Revelation Time , and had several chart hits in the Netherlands."

Though not released records, here are a few other clips for your 'enjoyment': Internazionale 's players taking to the mic; Clint 'Deuce' Dempsey 's word from the street ("When I pull up in the spot, I already know I'm hot, 'coz I got girls taking orders like a robot"), Alexi Lalas and his band Ginger, and QPR's Gareth Ainsworth leading his band Dog Chewed The Handle through a cover of Seven Nation Army , the Animals' We've Gotta Get Out Of This Place and I Predict A Riot .

Any more for any more? Then mail them to you know where .

HARD-DONE-BY MANAGERS (2)

After the summer sacking of Fabio Capello, we asked which manager had been most hard-done-by . But one man we missed was Austria Vienna coach Hermann Stessl, who was done up good and proper by his board ...

Here's Hermann Dorfler to take up the story. "He became coach in 1977-78, but because he was so young - 37 - he only got a half-year contract," says Hermann. "But he was successful: Austria Vienna won the title and reached the Cup Winners' Cup final before losing to a great Anderlecht side. The next year he won the league and his side lost to Malmo in the semi-finals of the European Cup - the furthest an Austrian side have ever gone in the competition - but was sacked halfway through the following season."

It doesn't end there. "He returned to Austria Vienna in 1985-86: the team did the double and were only knocked out of the European Cup by Bayern Munich after two amazing matches. Not good enough: he was sacked again."

It still doesn't end there. "He went back for a third stint in 1992-93, won the title ... and was sacked again. So in four-and-a-half seasons he won four titles, one Austrian Cup, reached a European final and semi-final ... and was sacked three times." Nobody will be able to beat that, is what we're saying. But, if you can, you know the drill .

KNOWLEDGE ARCHIVE

"What is the longest stretch Manchester United have gone without winning a Premier League game?" asked Adam Simpson.

In the Premier League's inaugural season, 1992-93, United went seven games without collecting maximum points in a league match. In a particularly goal-shy period - they scored only six goals in a 12-game run in all competitions, as Mark Hughes and Brian McClair searched desperately for a barn door - United drew five and lost two between September 19 and November 21, when they eventually trounced Oldham 3-0.

A few days later Alex Ferguson signed Eric Cantona, and the rest is history: United finished the season with 84 points, and won their first league championship in 26 years, beating their nearest rivals Aston Villa by 10 points.

Fergie's men did lose five Premier League games in seven during their winter of discontent in 2001, but that run was split by a routine 2-0 victory over Leicester on November 17.

Click here for thousands more Knowledge questions and answers.

Can you help?

"Watching the Premier League last weekend made me wonder why managers don't wear sunglasses," writes Steve Milton. "Does anyone know of those managers that do wear shades on a regular basis?"

"I vaguely remember reading a list of clubs and how many players they have had play for England while playing for them," begins Stephen Armstrong. "Ards from the mighty Northern Ireland were listed as having had one player play for England while on their books: did this actually happen and, if so, when and who?"

"Now that we have every Premier League goal filmed from every angle available for our endless scrutiny, I was wondering who scored the last goal in the English top flight not to be recorded on film?" wonders Rob Hamilton.

Email your questions and answers to knowledge@theguardian.com