Saturday, 22^nd November 2025.

Our second place in the table was always in jeopardy today as we weren’t playing and several clubs were at our heels. We could have dropped to sixth if things went really wrong. As it turned out, results didn’t go too badly for us, Cardiff won at Northampton and Bradford drew with Bolton so they went above us and Lincoln, who lost at Wycombe.

Here’s how the league looked at tea time:

Luton, who beat us 3-0 recently, were beaten 5-0 today by Barnsley, who we play next Saturday. It’s a good job football doesn’t follow any logical pattern or we could be in for a right chasing.

Today’s tune, because we find ourselves just above Bolton, is “Winter Hill” by Doves:

Sunday, 23^rd November 2025.

Matchday: Derby County v County Ladies, FA Cup round 2.

Here’s how County lined up at Mickleover Sports:

There were three changes from last week’s team, Olivia Wilson, Abbie Podmore and Shaunna Jein coming in at the expense of Gemma Lancaster, Olivia Greenhalgh and Natalie Watson.

Before getting into the details of the match, I’d just like to say how tickled I was to find that the Derby Ladies’ nickname is “The Ewes.”

County Ladies hit the front on twenty-four minutes after Abbie Podmore was first to a dodgy goal kick by the Derby ‘keeper, nipped round the defence and slotted home. They were unable to hang on to the lead unfortunately, and a long-range strike by Emily Joyce had the scores level at half time.

County very nearly regained the initiative early in the second half but Jess Battle couldn’t quite keep the shot down. Ten minutes in, the ladies were the victims of a poor decision when the referee gave a Derby a free kick which should have gone the other way and the hosts scored from the restart. Steve O’Hara then began a series of substitutions in an attempt to get back into the game but it was all in vain and Derby scored twice more in the seventy-second and eighty-fifth minutes to make the win secure. Olivia Wilson was named Player Of The Match.

Thanks to Andrew @machinsports for the use of this image:

County Ladies’ next game is Leeds United away in the league next Sunday.

Today’s tune, just because, is the very wonderful Ruth Notman with “Si Tu Dois Partir,” a French version of Dylan’s “If You Gotta Go, Go Now”:

Monday, 24^th November 2025.

My fellow TSBW blogger, Josh, has written a fantastic two-parter on County’s greatest-ever season, 1996-97. There’s testimony from those who were in the stands, including me, background information and links to video clips. The first part is out now and I can’t recommend it highly enough:

https://scarfbergarawore.co.uk/1996-97-and-all-that

A big day for the Stockport County Supporters’ Co-Operative today, with the AGM at The Spinning Top. There was some concern ahead of the meeting that we might struggle to achieve the twenty members we needed to achieve a quorum, but in the event we had twenty-three with a combination of those in the venue and those joining us online. Our Chairman, Dave Marchbank, was first to take the mic, opening the meeting and outlining the achievements of the last year.

• We had two main objectives for the year:
  • Increase the number of members: We are now 288 in total, an increase of 70 over this time last year.
  • Bring the number of board members up to nearer the optimum figure.
• Discounted coach travel: The £2 reduction on away game travel for Co-Op members with Edgeley Con Club Coaches has proved very popular and has played a large part in the recruitment of new members.
• Edgeley Park Redevelopment: We were delighted to be asked by the club to help provide a counterbalance to the objections being raised to the plan by the Edgeley Wildlife Group. This assistance involved coverage on various media and appearances at Town Hall planning meetings.
• Independent Football Regulator: The board held a remote meeting with the interim head of the new organisation, Martyn Henderson.

Dave also presented the Treasurer’s report, in the absence of Paul Thompson, who was working out of the country.

John Giles was up next, to present the Membership and Fund-Raising reports:

• Special Events: A number were held during the year, including those with Fraser Horsfall and Lewis Bate, to raise funds for Forever Friends of Uganda, Andy Preece and Dave Jones. There is, of course, another coming up this week with Antoni Sarcevic at Fitzpatrick’s.
• Plans for 2026:
  • Continue to lobby the 607 lapsed members to rejoin.
  • Introduce the new website which is now under construction.
  • Produce a new brochure to draw potential members towards the new website and, eventually, to joining the Co-Op.
  • Have more of a presence at home games to engage with members both existing and potential.

It was then my turn to present the Comms and Media report.

• This was my first year in the role and I was very grateful to my predecessor, Ian Brown, for his help and advice.
• The main responsibilities are to write columns for the Stockport Express and the programme for home games.
• I spoke at one of the Town Hall planning meetings; rather out of my comfort zone but it seemed to go well and it provided plenty of copy for the Express and the programme.

New board members: We were delighted to welcome Adele Cook, Tim Audas, Paul Dawson and Tim Rowson aboard. Tim A. and Adele, pictured below with our superb independent secretary, Cath Shanley, said a few words to introduce themselves at the end of the meeting.

It was proposed and accepted that The Wellspring would continue as our nominated charity for 2026. There will be a bucket collection for them before the home game against Stevenage. On the subject of charities, John Giles, our Vice Chair, has suggested we should make more of those we support and we’re planning to arrange interviews with groups like Forever Friends Of Uganda, The Wellspring and Walthew House to provide material for the regular articles and for the new website.

Regular readers will be aware that I harbour a deep dislike of Manchester United and I usually record their matches to watch later if they lose. They’ve been doing disappointingly well lately, but tonight they lost 1-0 to Everton, who had a player sent off for slapping one of his own side during a frank exchange of views over a poor piece of defending. Magnificent stuff.

Today’s tune, inspired by the backdrop to tonight’s meeting, is “What’s Left Of The Flag” by Flogging Molly. If you’re unfamiliar with the band, they’re like an American version of The Pogues with better teeth:

Tuesday, 25^th November 2025.

It was a first for TSBW’s County Ladies pod this week; in addition to regulars Stu Hope, James Pratt and Ladies’ manager Steve O’Hara, they had a fan guest in the shape of James Hughes. At the time of recording, the team had played seven games since the last episode and the panel ran through them as follows:

• Gateshead Leam Rangers Women (H), FA Cup 3^rd Qualifying Round: An impressive 8-1 victory with goals from Em Bradshaw (4), Abbie Podmore, Em Lysons, Courteney Csomor and Nat Watson.
• Sunderland PGA (H), FAWNL Plate 1^st Round: Won 3-2 in extra time, goals by Shauna Jein, Paige Cole and Jess Battle. A good win against a young, tall and physical team with plenty of technical ability who showed the advantage to be gained from training together all week. Steve deemed them the best opponents faced before Huddersfield two weeks later.
• Tranmere Rovers (H), FA Cup 1^st Round: Won 3-0, goals by Levi Rathburn, Paige Cole and Courteney Csomor.
• Huddersfield Town (H), FAWNL Division 1 North: Lost 3-0 in terrible conditions, in the words of Steve O’Hara, “The wheels came off.” From 0-0 at half time County made silly mistakes to concede two from long range and a third from a defensive error.
• York City (A), FAWNL Division 1 North: Won 3-0, goals by Em Bradsahaw, Jess Battle and Abbie Podmore take the Ladies up to fourth in the league.
• Durham Cestria (A), FAWNL Plate 2^nd Round: Lost 2-1, goal by Nat Watson. County took the lead with twelve minutes to go but failed to take a number of chances. Durham scored twice late on to progress to the third round.
• Cheadle Town Stingers (H), FAWNL Division 1 North: Lost 1-0. A frustrating afternoon in which County had the better of the play but failed to convert their dominance into goals after Cheadle scored from a penalty for handball early on. The pen was the visitors’ only shot on goal and they were happy to defend from then on.

Steve believes that with the league being much more open this season, the three defeats so far aren’t the disaster they might have been in the past but there’s a definite need to be more consistent from here on in. The number of goals scored has been a vindication of the transfer policy in the close season, it was recognised that the defence was in good shape but the team as a whole needed to take more chances. The signing of Jess Battle has been a great success in this regard. He praised Liv Greenhalgh in particular, an ever-present so far this season and a great asset both on the pitch and in the dressing room.

An enjoyable hour of chat and analysis:

One of tonight’s results impacted on our league position, Stevenage’s one nil defeat of Peterborough took them top and demoted us to fifth place. Here’s how the top half of the table looks:

Today’s tune is from nearly fifty years ago (how the hell did that happen?) but with lessons about working together to make things happen, it’s Sham 69 with “If The Kids Are United”:

Wednesday, 26^th November 2025.

Help the Hatters have two shirts to auction in support of the Fingerpost Flyer. The first is an iconic, much sought after, Ribera `Gordon Ford` County Shirt from the 1990-91 season, size 42/44, in good condition. The second, also in good condition, is a very collectable replica ‘keeper’s shirt from the 90s in size M. At the time of writing, there are bids in place of £200 for the white shirt and £80 for the ‘keeper’s. Offers by email to hedgegrower@gmail.com before entries close at 11.59 on Sunday 7^th December.

There have been some cracking events with former players in the past, but tonight’s Evening With Antoni Sarcevic presented by The Scarf Bergara Wore in aid of the Supporters’ Co-Op was up there with the very best. Fitzpatrick’s Bar by Stockport Station was full to the gunwales with County fans and a good number of Sarce’s friends and relations. The show followed the established format of an interview of Antoni by Russ Johnson followed by a Q&A session with Waggie on stage and Andy Reding roaming the room with a microphone.

Sarcevic proved to be the ideal subject; confident, funny, honest and even vulnerable at times. We learned about his early days at Woodley Sports, how he was scouted by Blackburn Rovers and how that was the point at which he realised that the life of a professional footballer was what he really wanted.

There were three questions that absolutely had to be asked:

• How did he come to leave Bolton and sign for County, and why was it all Ian Evatt’s fault?
• What did he say to Tozer during the 5-0 drubbing of Wrexham?
• Why did he decide to leave County and sign for Bradford?

I won’t let the cat out of the bag at this stage, it was all recorded and those who weren’t there have to wait for the video to be released.

John Giles did a splendid job of selling raffle tickets for an excellent selection of prizes including a signed shirt, divers bottles of drink and, to much amusement from all who were in on the running joke, a bag of assorted meat. Andy Reding was adamant that he’d never heard of a meat raffle, but he certainly has now. There was an auction for a signed football from last season’s home game against Birmingham, kindly donated by one of the new crop of Co-Op board members, Paul Dawson. The bidding was keenly contested, Ellis Whitehead eventually coming out on top.

Today’s tune is “The Heroes” by Shed Seven, and why not?

Thursday, 27^th November 2025.

Rumours abound that Sheffield United’s American owners thought it might be a good idea to buy Sheffield Wednesday and merge the two clubs. I’ve heard worse ideas, but not since a bloke at in the control room at Chernobyl thought “I wonder what’ll happen if I turn the cooling pumps off?” This gross idiocy and lack of understanding shows the value of having a Steve Bellis figure around every club to make sure new owners don’t lose touch with the fans.

For TSBW’s Barnsley preview pod, Steve Bardsley talked (or for the most part listened) to Andy Symcox of the Red All Over podcast. It was information-packed, shall we say, but here’s a summary:

• The ground: After years of doubt, Oakwell has been secured for at least the next thirty years with the help of the council.
• Budget: Competitive for League 1.
• Manager: Conor Hourihane, an ex-Captain at the club, took over from Darrell Clarke towards the end of last season. His desire to play four at the back with wingers led to a huge churn of players in the last window and explains Corey O’Keeffe coming to us on loan.
• Expectations for this season: After what looked like some shrewd buys, perhaps finishing just below the playoffs, an improvement over last season’s twelfth place.
• Players to watch:
  • Marc Roberts: A strong and experienced centre half who marshals the defence well.
  • Tennai Watson: A traditional right fullback, signed from Charlton, who typifies their four at the back formation this season.
  • Luca Connell: Captain and central midfielder.
  • Davis Keillor-Dunn: A forward who usually does well against us.
• Andy’s prediction: They struggle to put two good halves together, which sounds familiar, and usually concede a goal or two, so he’s going for a 2-1 win for Barnsley.

Don’t take my word for it, you’ll know all there is to know if you listen to the whole thing:

Today’s tune is from the Barnsley Nightingale, Kate Rusby, assisted by Dave Burland, “Elfin Knight”:

Friday 28^th November 2025.

Here’s my exercise in forcing square pegs into round holes, otherwise known as my team prediction for tomorrow:

Listening to Chally’s pre-match interview on Radio Manchester, it sounds like Ben Osborn might be available tomorrow. If so, I assume we’ll see him play centrally in place of Ollie Norwood and leave the left wingback’s position to Owen Dodgson. Callum Camps’ availability is moot at the moment.

I’m completing this week’s blog sat in a hire van at Chester Services while I wait for the traffic to clear. I only stopped here to go to the toilet but it’s been so long that I’ve had to go again!

Today’s tune, appropriately enough, is “Waiting For The Great Leap Forward” by Billy Bragg:

See you all at Edgeley Park!

Animo et fide.