A manager given the boot on Christmas Day; a stadium that doubled up as an ice-skating rink and a 66-goal Boxing Day bonanza. Send your Christmas questions and answers to knowledge@theguardian.com and follow us on Twitter
“Has any club ever been cruel enough to give their manager the boot on Christmas Day?” wondered Simon Briggs in 2006.
Heartless as it sounds, Simon, a club has been known to sack its manager on Jesus’s birthday, and they were even brave enough to ruin the festivities for one José Mário dos Santos Mourinho Félix. “I was nine or 10 years old and my father [Félix] was sacked on Christmas Day,” recalled the now Manchester United manager, during an interview back in 2004. “He was a manager [of Rio Ave], the results had not been good, he lost a game on December 22 or 23. On Christmas Day, the telephone rang and he was sacked in the middle of our lunch. So I know all about the ups and downs of football, I know that one day I will be sacked.” Correct, José.
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