Martin Tyler's stats and facts column is back for another season here on skysports.com!

Sky Sports' voice of football and his back-up team of experts are here to answer your questions and queries on all things statistical and historical from the beautiful game.

It could be on a side in the Premier League or Football League, international scene or European competitions - or it could be about an individual player or manager.

Bilic: a place in histoy

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Tyler's Starting Stat - Slave to Slaven

Last night's disastrous defeat to Croatia not only meant the end of England's Euro 2008 hopes and indeed Steve McClaren's reign, but it also made history. The 3-2 loss was the first time England had lost to the same opposition, home and away, in any qualifying campaign. This was their 24th campaign - 13 World Cups and 11 European Championships - and never before has a country beaten them in both games. Perhaps consistency was the key because just two of the starting side at Wembley on Wednesday night began that 2-0 reverse in Zagreb last October - goalscorers Frank Lampard and Peter Crouch. In contrast, nine of Croatia's starting side were in the XI for that first game. It would have been all 11 but Mladen Petric - who came on and scored in the second half - was not 100 per cent fit at Wembley and Darijo Srna, who was, missed the first meeting through injury.

LEAVING ON A HIGH?
Martin, I can't say I am surprised to see Steve McClaren sacked this morning, but it got me thinking. Have England managers always been given the boot on the back of a loss? Or have some of them gone with a win? Mark
MARTIN SAYS: Well Mark, Steve McClaren is only the third England manager to end his reign with a defeat, although this is a difficult point because we have to remember that on more than one occasion, the England manager's departure has been pre-ordained, either because it was the end of a campaign, tournament or simply his time. And they were not always given the boot, as you put it! Sir Bobby Robson's reign ended on the back of defeat in the third-place play-off in the 1990 World Cup finals, but it had already been decided that he would step down. I suppose the closest comparison would be Kevin Keegan, who quit of course after a home qualifying defeat to Germany in 2000 - by no means the last or even a decisive game compared to Croatia and McClaren's exit. Three England managers have bid farewell with a victory though, the first being Walter Winterbottom ending his mammoth 139-game reign with a 4-0 success over Wales in 1962. Graham Taylor's last game in charge was the 7-1 win over San Marino in the final qualifier for the 1994 World Cup finals - a game which turned out to be irrelevant - while Glenn Hoddle had just enjoyed a 2-0 friendly win over the Czech Republic when he was relieved of his duties for non-footballing reasons. Sven Goran Eriksson, Terry Venables and Ron Greenwood all left the job after draws had sent them out of major tournaments, the first two losing on penalties and all three of them having had their fates decided long before the final whistle.

TREBLE TROUBLE
Hi Martin, still in shock and scratching my head. I was wondering just when the last time England conceded three goals at Wembley? I can't remember it...Christopher Caton
MARTIN SAYS: It's understandable really Christopher, because you have to go back 12 years to find the last time England let in three at their famous old - and new - home. Of course while Wembley was being rebuilt, they played at different grounds for six-and-a-half years, but even so, the Croatia scoreline was a rarity. Brazil were the last side to do it, winning an Umbro Cup friendly beneath the twin towers 3-1, goals from Juninho, Ronaldo and Edmundo overturning Graeme Le Saux's opener. As I say England have been on their travels and have conceded three more recently. In fact the last time was in November 2003 at Old Trafford when Denmark won 3-2 with two goals from Martin Jorgensen and one from Jon Dahl Tomasson cancelling out Joe Cole and Wayne Rooney's goal. But Christopher I guess the most interesting stat on this is the last time England conceded three goals in a competitive, or qualifying, game at Wembley - and that was some 35 years ago. Back then, the 1972 European Championships was a final competition of just four sides and the qualification was two-legged ties in what were effectively quarter-finals. England were drawn against West Germany and on April 29, Sir Alf Ramsey's side were beaten 3-1 at Wembley. Francis Lee was the scorer for England, but goals from Gunther Netzer, Uli Hoenss and Gerd Muller gave the West Germans a win that, coupled to a 0-0 draw in the second leg, saw them progress to the finals - where they were crowned European champions.

VILLAN OF MANY PIECES
Dear Martin, there is a Villa fan in the office who is always bleating about how badly Gareth Barry has been treated by England. Anyway, he says Barry has played for five different managers in his England career of only 15 caps in seven years and has set me the question of who they are. Three of them are obvious - Kevin Keegan, Sven Goran Eriksson and Steve McClaren - but I can't work out the other two. He can't have played under Glenn Hoddle so what I want to know is: Is my colleague talking nonsense or can you enlighten me? Thanks, Bluenose Pete, Solihull
MARTIN SAYS: Well Pete, your colleague is correct, Gareth Barry has played under five managers, the three that you mention and two caretaker managers, Howard Wilkinson and Peter Taylor. In fact, by the time Barry made his his ninth appearance for England, as a replacement for Steven Gerrard in a 1-0 defeat to Spain under McClaren at Old Trafford, he was playing under his fifth manager. Barry made his debut under Kevin Keegan on May 31 2000 in a 2-0 win over Ukraine at Wembley, coming off the bench for Phil Neville. He played three more times for Keegan, against Malta, France and Germany, before starting under Wilkinson in a World Cup qualifier against Finland in Helsinki in October 2000. Taylor was in charge of the team for Barry's next match, when he started in a 1-0 friendly defeat to Italy in Turin in November 2000, but he had to wait until May 2003 to play for England again, when England beat South Africa 2-1 in Durban - again he replaced Gerrard as a substitute. He only played once more for Sven, against Serbia & Montenegro in June 2003, and he then endured more than three and half years in the international wilderness before earning a recall against Spain in 2007. He has enjoyed life under McClaren, having played for him eight times up to and including the friendly win over Austria at the weekend.

NEXT SUMMER EXPLAINED
Dear Martin, how does the seeding at the Euro 2008 finals work? I saw the other day that Austria, Switzerland and Greece are already top seeds. How is the other seed decided and the second seeds, so on and so on. Can you answer this one please Mr Tyler? Dipak Uddin
MARTIN SAYS: I can Dipak, although with qualification now completed, you might well have seen it elsewhere. To start with the teams that qualify for next summer's finals are the top two from each group, along with the co-hosts Austria and Switzerland, which gives us our 16 finalists. The two hosts, the reigning champions Greece (who had to qualify) and the team highest on the Uefa coefficiency rankings, then make up the seeds. The coefficiency rankings are based on results in qualifying campaigns for the 2006 World Cup and 2008 European Championships and, as Uefa explain, are calculated by the number of points gained divided by the games played by a side over those two campaigns. The long and short of it is, Holland are the other top seeds (there are four groups) and Croatia's victory over England means they make the second pot. Elsewhere Germany, who were in with a shout of that top seeding, are in the third pot, while France find themselves among the fourth ranked sides. Here are how the sides will line up for the draw for Austria and Switzerland which takes place a week this Sunday.

SILVER LININGHi Martin, I am a Scotsman still trying to come to terms with it all! I am looking for some consolation this morning, but the fact I heard we got a record number of points yet didn't qualify hardly makes me feel any better. Is this true? Ian Gannon
MARTIN SAYS: Well Ian, I am sorry to say that following the completion of qualifying, Scotland cannot even take solace from having the most points of the sides that did not make it. Their tally of 24 did indeed set a new record but was usurped by Bulgaria, who won 2-0 in Slovenia on Wednesday to rack up 25 points, one more than Scotland. But it was still not enough for a place in the finals as they finished third in Group G behind Romania and Holland. Finland, who did not get the win in Portugal they needed to go through, also failed to qualify from Group A, but matched the Scots' haul. Previously, the record was 20 points, recorded by Ukraine in the Euro 2000 qualifiers and Norway in the 1996 equivalent, both over 10-game campaigns. Which, like Scotland, averages out at two points a game, although it is fair to say neither of them came up against the current world champions and runners-up!

SWISS ROLES
Dear Martin, I'm a Newcastle fan who lives in Switzerland. There are some Swiss players in the Premiership, and no doubt that some of them are very talented. My question is: who was the first Swiss player who played in the Premiership? I think Mark Hottiger at Newcastle was one of the first players from Switzerland, but think there were at least one or two more before him. Thanks very much. Ramon Fritschi
MARTIN SAYS: This is not exactly in keeping with the European qualifying questions we have been dealing with Ramon, but as we are not going to be sending any players to Switzerland this summer, I might as well talk about Swiss players that have been sent over here! You are in fact right when you say Marc Hottiger was the first player from your country to play over here. Since his arrival at Newcastle in 1994 (he also went on to play for Everton), there have been several who have made the similar journey, most notably I suppose Stephane Henchoz, who arrived at Blackburn in 1997 to start a successful Premier League career. Ramon Vega began his four-year stay at Tottenham that same season, while Bernt Haas and Reto Ziegler have also been and gone as it were. Henchoz is one of six Swiss players currently playing in our league along with Philippe Senderos (Arsenal) Johan Djourou (Birmingham, on-loan from Arsenal), Blerim Dzemaili (Bolton), Gelson Fernandes (Man City) and Bruno Berner (Blackburn). But if it's a real trail-blazer you are looking for Ramon, then let me tell you about Willi Steffen, the first Swiss player to play over here more than 60 years ago. Willi, who sadly passed away in 2005, came over to England to learn English apparently, and as his teacher was the wife of the then-Chelsea manager, he was given a trial and played 20 times for the Blues. A former fighter pilot, he returned to his homeland to complete his national service at the end of the year and joined Young Boys Bern, with whom he won the Swiss Super League four years in succession from 1957-60 as well as the Schweizer Cup in 1953 and 1958. He played for Switzerland at the 1950 World Cup and also played in a 1-0 win over an England side containing Stanley Matthews, Tommy Lawton and Billy Wright in Zurich in 1947. He won 28 international caps for his country. Of course, another Swiss football man to come to London and make his mark was former Spurs boss Christian Gross, who arrived clutching his train ticket in 1997. Roy Hodgson, former manager of Blackburn, has of course made the opposite journey and managed the Swiss national side.

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