Saturday, 6^th December 2025.

Matchday: County v Cambridge United, FA Cup Second Round.

A couple of news items that broke after last week’s blog went to press:

• Christie Grogan, who has impressed in his appearances for County since signing from Stoke, has gone to Aldershot Town on loan for the rest of the season.
• Tyler Onyango is back in training with County, having been back at Everton to recover from his latest injury. No indication of how long before he’s available for selection but it’s a big step in the right direction.

This blog and its parent podcast, The Scarf Bergara Wore, are both avowedly unpolitical so I’ll just say this; I’ve never seen anything quite so remarkable as the creation of the FIFA Peace Prize and the awarding of it to Donald Trump.

The football almost paled into insignificance during the interminable draw ceremony, so for anyone who hasn’t heard, these are the groups for the two home nations:

There’s still a chance that we’ll see Wales or Northern Ireland compete at the World Cup, as they’re both in the playoffs. It can’t be both as they’re in the same playoff path.

With considerably less fanfare, and a total lack of giving invented awards to populists, the draw for the next round of the Vertu Trophy took place at lunchtime. We’ve got Harrogate at home, which is a winnable tie if we shape ourselves.

On arrival in LT4 this afternoon we had our portraits painted with light by Andrew Machin:

Dave Challinor’s team selection bore little relation to mine, I managed to scrape 7/11. Good to see Brad Hills’ name on the teamsheet, albeit on the bench.

I’m not going to waste much time on the game itself, it was bad enough watching it. It was such a turgid affair that by the end of ninety minutes I’d lost interest in the result and by the end of extra time I’d lost the will to live. Corey Addai kept us in it with some excellent saves and should perhaps have been awarded man of the match rather than Odin Bailey.

The Match Review Pod tomorrow will be interesting, goodness knows what the panel will make of it.

County’s performance was enough to drive anyone to drink and I know a couple of the TSBW crew who endured extra time and the shoot-out from the concourse. In keeping with the general mood, today’s tune is George Thorogood and the Destroyers’ live version of John Lee Hooker’s “One Bourbon, One Scotch, One Beer”:

Sunday, 7^th December 2025.

Matchday: County Ladies v Chester-le-Street Town, FAWNL Division 1.

There were two games in League 1 yesterday, Cardiff beat Huddersfield and Bradford beat Plymouth. Neither result affected our league position, other than increasing the points difference between us and the automatic promotion places. Here’s how the table looks at the moment:

County Ladies had a new signing to report before kick-off today; Adekite Fatuga-Dada comes from Bolton and brings extensive experience from spells with Watford and Lewes.

Here’s how County lined up for their last home game before the new year, the new recruit started on the bench:

County started well, most of the play taking place in the opposition half, but it was Town who took the lead through Jenny Ashton on thirty-two minutes.

Photo by kind permission of Andrew Machin at @machinsports.

Just two minutes into the second half, a County corner resulted in a melee from which the ball emerged at the feet of Jess Battle who fired home to bring the Ladies level. Despite a series of substitutions, including a debut for the new signing, there was no more scoring and the points were shared. I’m told by an eye witness that County were denied a late winner by some bizarre officiating late on.

The draw leaves County Ladies in sixth place in the league:

County Ladies’ next game is a tough one, second-placed Wythenshawe away next Sunday.

Today’s tune celebrates the news that County’s striker Paige Cole is now officially Dr. Cole, it’s Robert Palmer with “Bad Case Of Loving You (Doctor Doctor)”:

Monday, 8^th December 2025.

Northampton (A) tickets were out today for those with enough points. I went for one behind the goal but I’m wondering now if I might have been better going for one on the side. Time will tell…

This morning brought a much-needed therapy session in the shape of TSBW’s Match Review Pod, presented by Jimmy Harmer with Steve Bardsley, Dave Whitehead and Nick Reid. I wouldn’t have blamed them if they’d just said “It was bloody awful, thanks for watching, we’ll be back next Monday morning” but fair play they took a proper look at it. They opened proceedings with a snippet of Dave Challinor’s post-match interview, in which you could tell he was absolutely farting sparks but doing his best to keep a lid on his emotions. The rest of the postmortem went like this:

• The team: Addai in goal, a back four of Hunt, Connolly, Pye and Dodgson, a midfield of Bailey and Moxon with Fevrier, Mothersille and Diamond providing the ammunition for Lowe at the spearhead. No sign of the rumoured Hoskonen, even on the bench.
• Conditions: Foul; varying from drizzle to downpour and blowing into the Cheadle End at times.
• First half: No Norwood, no threat. Despite all our fit flair players being on the pitch at once, we weren’t able to create much in the way of chances. It wasn’t a shortage of effort, just a lack of creativity which makes it worse if anything. Chally was calling loudly from the touchline for quicker play but the game just dragged on in its leisurely, frustrating, Ruskball-esque way.
• Corey Addai: It’s a bad sign when your goalkeeper is a contender for man of the match, but he could well have been awarded the honour for keeping us in the match with some excellent saves. Odin Bailey won Steve Bellis’ vote but it must have been a close thing.
• Callum Connolly: He was obviously in discomfort a couple of times late in the half and eventually had to be replaced by Joe Olowu. It’s suggested he may have a long standing back issue, so Brad Hills’ return from injury may have come just in time.
• Second half: Control C > Control V. No substitutes to start with, perhaps to give those on the pitch a chance to buck their ideas up. That didn’t bear any fruit, so Corey O’Keeffe and Kyle Wootton were introduced at the expenses of Malik Mothersille and Jack Hunt after an hour. They were followed, just before the end of normal time, by Ben Osborn and Tayo Edun, replacing Nathan Lowe and Owen Dodgson. Osborn almost won it but his shot was blocked. By this time, I no longer cared who won the thing, I just wanted it to be over.
• Extra time: Nothing of note happened, apart from Che Gardner coming on for Jayden Fevrier.
• Penalties: We missed our first, they scored all theirs and made sure we knew it, the charmers.
• Jack Hunt: He shoved one of theirs over and might have walked with a different referee. He was undoubtedly provoked, but it was asking for trouble.
• Neil Harris: Seems to have the wood over us as a manger, we’ve lost the last three times we’ve played against his teams, Gillingham and Cambridge.
• Michael Carrick: The former Middlesbrough manager was spotted in the crowd. I hope there’s no more to it than a football fan with time on his hands watching a match close to home.
• Doncaster (A): Chally, in common with the rest of us, will be looking for a reaction and there are sure to be changes. Perhaps Ben Osborn will start in midfield and surely Kyle Wootton will be back up top.

A cathartic hour of County discussion in good company, watch it in full here:

The Supporters’ Co-Op held one of their regular meetings with the club tonight, partly to discuss questions requested by the membership and also to introduce the new Co-Op board as elected at the recent AGM. The club fielded a full-strength team including Ken Knott, Simon Wilson, Gavin Bailey and Steve Bellis. There was so much to discuss that it was felt that some items of an operational nature would be better aired at a meeting with different club officials or we would have been there until midnight. Official minutes of the meeting will be published once agreed with all parties.

At the conclusion of the meeting, the Co-Op board moved on to the room above The Armoury to hold the first meeting with our new members and to decide on individual responsibilities. Again, official minutes will be passed on but I can at least confirm that I’ll retain responsibility for Comms and Media, so I’ll still be writing the columns for the Stockport Express and the home programme.

Here’s your Co-Op board for the next twelve months:

Me, John Giles, Tim Audas, Dave Marchbank, Cath Shanley, Tim Rowson, Adele Cooke and Paul Dawson.

Here’s my crack at a team for tomorrow night, I’m just glad I don’t have any real input into the selection!

There seems to be little confidence about tomorrow night’s game, so today’s tune is in keeping with the general mood; “Worried Man Blues” by Half Man Half Biscuit:

Tuesday, 9^th December 2025.

Matchday: County v Doncaster Rovers, League 1.

County are up to something as regards merch in the Romania colours, but despite an avalanche of hints on the socials, I haven’t been able to grasp quite what they’re selling yet. No doubt all will be revealed in due course.

The Fingerpost Flyer was back on duty for the game tonight, with enough passengers to pay its way but with enough spare seats to allow those of us who like to stretch out to have a pair of seats to ourselves. Happy days. Despite us spending ages sitting stationary at the end of the M67 and on Woodhead, our arrival was timed perfectly for the turnstiles to open.

The editor of the Doncaster programme asked TSBW for some words for their “Through Opposition Eyes” feature and Russ Johnson asked me if I’d have a go. I was pleased to see that they’d used it in full:

Chally’s team selection got me 9/11, I hadn’t expected to see Che Gardner get his first start. He and Jack Diamond replaced Jack Hunt and Nathan Lowe in my selection.

There was a fright for County fans early on when Joe Olowu went in hard on Rovers’ captain, Owen Bailey. It could have gone either way but luckily the card the Referee pulled out was a yellow. Olowu was with Doncaster last season and their fans were on his back throughout the game but apart from the early indiscretion he had an excellent game. County, resplendent in their striped away shirts, had the best of the first half but were unable to trouble the scoreboard. The main feature was the battle between Brad Hills and Doncaster’s Billy Sharp, who grew more spiteful and petulant every time he failed to get the better of our man. The referee didn’t help by failing to get on top of things but at least he was fair, he was poor for both sides. That was more than you could say for the wind, which was blowing against us so strongly that an early goal kick by Ben Hinchliffe stalled in mid-air and threatened to come back the other way.

We started the second half much more brightly; we regained the intensity that Dave Challinor always insists is our identity and Doncaster seemed to wilt in the face of it. If they were drooping at first, their petals well and truly fell off when Ben Osborn latched onto a clearance at the edge of the box and curled a shot into the top left-hand corner. The game was over as a contest seven minutes later when Kyle Wootton’s head met a Jack Diamond cross and placed it perfectly out of the goalie’s reach.

Apart from the goals, the highpoint of the evening was Che Gardner’s performance on his first league start. He still looks like a strong wind would have him over but he’s a damn sight stronger than he looks. He had to be substituted eventually but it was only cramp and it meant he got a tremendous round of applause as he walked past the County fans on his way to the dugout.

The big downside of the night was Brad Hills going off after sixty-seven minutes; he was noticeably upset as he left the pitch. Let’s hope it’s nothing serious, the Pye – Olowu – Hills back three gives us a security we haven’t seen with any other combination.

It was a happy Flyer that made it back over the big hill and I was back in the house by eleven thirty, thanks to Janice collecting me from Lowndes Lane.

Today’s tune is a nice bit of early ska: “Western Flyer” by The Baba Brooks Band:

Wednesday, 10^th December 2025.

Here’s how the table looks after last night’s win:

The older and more nesh I get, the more important warmth at the football becomes. I’m now trialling a Chinese-made battery-powered electric waistcoat. If you see someone bursting into flames next time we lose it won’t be a protest, it’ll be my battery going into thermal overload.

A work trip took Russ Johnson away from tonight’s TSBW main pod, so we were treated to Waggie on the buttons, ably assisted by Andy Reding, Jimmy Harmer and first-time fan guest Pete Mellor. The review of County’s week went like this:

• Pete Mellor: A strong set of newbie questions:
  • First game: Opponents unknown, but some time in 1996, courtesy of the tickets for schools programme.
  • Favourite game: A 2-0 win against Fulham (H) in 2001, goals by Jarkko Wiss and Peter Clark.
  • Favourite goal: Ollie Norwood’s free kick against Burton (H).
  • Favourite player (past): Paul Jones.
  • Favourite player (present): Ethan Pye.
  • Favourite shirt: The 1997-98 black and white quarters job.
• Doncaster (A):
  • Sky didn’t cover themselves in glory; the commentator’s research only extended to reading things that appeared on the screen and the stream disappeared altogether for some people.
  • First half: The strong wind hampered our efforts, especially when we resorted to the long ball. We looked most dangerous down the left, where Tayo Edun and Malik Mothersille are developing a promising understanding. Joe Olowu was perhaps lucky to avoid a red card early on. Che Gardner was superb on his full league debut, especially as he isn’t really a wingback. We responded well to our opponents’ robust approach and fought fire with fire when necessary.
  • Second half: We dealt better with the conditions kicking the other way. Ben Osborn’s goal was a worldie and Kyle Wootton’s was a superb precision header under pressure from Rovers’ centre half. Should Owen Bailey have been sent off for his WWE-style assault on Owen Dodgson?
  • Corey Addai: He continues to look detached from the team and the fans; he didn’t join in the celebrations at the end again. Does he know he’s off in January? Do we need to sign a new No.1 with Ben Hinchliffe nearing the end of his career and Addai looking lost? Could we tempt Sam Tickle away from Wigan?
• Stevenage (H):
  • Their early season form has dropped away recently, they’ve only won one in the last seven. They sit two places and one point behind us with a game in hand.
  • They don’t score many goals but concede even fewer. We know Carl Piergianni very well, if we lob crosses into the box he’ll mop them up all day.
  • If Brad Hills is fit, should we play the same team?
  • Predictions: Everyone went for a County win; Andy said 2-1, Jimmy 1-0, Pete 3-1 and Waggie, ever the optimist, 4-0.
• Random Shit Of The Week: Tonight, Matthew, Andy Reding was Les Dennis fronting a game of County Fortunes. The lucky contestants had to guess the five most popular items to be found in footballers’ kitbags.

A splendid pod altogether, watch it here:

Today’s tune is a musical warning about the perils of electric vests, “Danger, High Voltage” by the Electric Six:

Thursday, 11^th December 2025.

The Stevenage Match Preview Show from TSBW was brought to us by Steve Bardsley and the very enthusiastic Matt Farley of the Stevenage FC Podcast.

• Pod history: Matt’s pod was started in 2019 but has really taken off in the three years after a break for the Covid pandemic.
• Club ownership: Phil Wallace, who made his pile in the food industry, has been chairman for over twenty years. Xsolla, an American gaming company, are the shirt sponsors and are helping with finance.
• Manager: The current incumbent, Alex Revell, took over from the ever-popular Steve Evans in 2024.
• The season so far: They started off like a rocket but their form has dropped off recently, they’ve only won one in the last eight. They remain defensively sound but need to score more goals.
• Injuries: They’ve lost a number of players recently; Jordan Roberts, Dan Butler, Dan Kemp and Harvey White are all out. In addition, Charlie Goode, a first-choice centre half, received a fifth caution on Tuesday so he’ll miss our game.
• Tactics: They’ll probably go 3-5-2, sit in for an hour or so then change to a more expansive lineup and go for it.
• Players in common: The most well-known are Carl Piergianni and Kyle Wootton.
• Prediction: Matt is expecting a 1-0 victory for his team.

Enjoy all this and more here:

At last, some County highlights you won’t have to watch while hiding behind the sofa:

With Stevenage on our event horizon, we need to feature a band from there so today’s tune is “Lorraine” by Bad Manners in a typically deranged appearance on Top Of The Pops. A friend was events secretary at a University where the band were appearing years ago and the lead singer, Buster Bloodvessel, attempted to woo her by following her around all night while pulling a toy duck behind him on a piece of string. Unique, certainly, but ultimately unsuccessful.

Friday 12^th December 2025.

At the recent AGM, members of the County Supporters’ Co-Operative voted to keep the Wellspring as our main charity partner for 2026. The Wellspring supports people who are homeless or at risk of losing their home in Stockport. There will be a bucket collection for the them at Edgeley Park tomorrow, and their own volunteers will be bolstered by Co-Op members eager to help make the day a success.

Christmas is a particularly difficult time for many who are struggling and the current appeal will provide a meal and a gift to bring some cheer to those who would otherwise have nothing.

Please give if you are able via by using the QR code below, https://www.justgiving.com/campaign/xmasdinnerappeal25 or https://square.link/u/4bC3yg6i  and quote #COOP.

Thank you very much for your help.

Here’s my guess at a team for tomorrow. I’m hoping Callum Connolly is fit to play because I don’t think Brad Hills will be:

The weather guessers think it might be raining at chucking out time tomorrow night, so today’s tune might come in handy; “Drunken Serenade In The Rain” by Merry Hell:

See you all at Edgeley Park!

Animo et fide.