County v Wigan

The Bask derby, the North West derby, the blue and white derby… however you want to dress it up, it’s a big one at EP this afternoon as County could potentially finish the day in the top two

Oct 05, 2024

Saturday 5 October 2024

If you’d like to write an article for The Scarf My Father Wore, share a few snippets or photos, or advertise your business, please email thescarfmyfatherwore@substack.com.

Dear County fans, Stopfordians, Wigan supporters, and anyone else from The Football Family joining us today, a very warm welcome to your Saturday edition of The Scarf My Father Wore.

There’s not a lot from me today, as I’m currently on my way to a first birthday party, as these two little hooligans celebrate turning one! A great big happy birthday to my adorable nephews Evan and Myles. They can’t read yet, but for those of you who can, here’s Ian Brown, Nick Lee and John Giles with some pre-match reading material.

Today’s edition is sponsored by Colourtone. As always, a big thank you to Paul.

Finally, I’m currently walking every street in Stockport to raise money for mental health charity Mentell. If you’d like to make a donation to help me reach my target, please click here.

Total distance so far: 176.31 miles

Total steps so far: 284,130

Total raised so far: £2,027

Total completed streets so far: 399 (Click here for the full list, which includes reports and photos from every day of the walk.)

Further information on the walk can be found by clicking here.

Des Junior

Ian Brown, All Things Stockport County

County 5 Wigan 0

Wigan haven’t conceded a goal in their last five league games. How do County find the back of the net this afternoon?

Tuesday’s game at Shrewsbury was a veritable curate’s egg of a performance from County. In the first half we stunk the place out with a lackadaisical showing that made a poor Shrewsbury side look considerably better than they were, yet we still went in 1-0 up.

In the second half, after a dismal opening 10 minutes, County at last emerged looking like they wanted to add further goals. Jack Diamond was particularly unlucky being denied several times by desperate defending, with the Shrews keeper playing brilliantly. In the end it took a nicely worked set-piece to finally give County their second goal and secure the three points.

So, replicate the attitude and resolve shown for most of the second half on Tuesday and we’ll be quids in; repeat the sorry first half performance (notwithstanding Ethan Pye’s excellent goal) and we’ll struggle.

To a degree it doesn’t really matter what 11 Challinor sends out today – it’s what’s going on in their heads that matters. We’ll know soon enough.

I’m going to be massively optimistic with my prediction today, and go 5-0 County.

Ian follows County home and away, producing detailed match reports every week, along with lots of other great content. Head over to hedgegrower.blogspot.com.

Nick Lee, SK3 TV

County 2 Wigan 1

Rank the following four pies. The pies at Edgeley Park. Any pie in Wigan. Ethan. The number 3.14.

In reverse order, with the intention of creating a bit of jeopardy…

4) The number 3.14. I have no strong feelings about it whatsoever. I'm still miffed about the maths teachers at school telling us to learn all that bollocks because, and I quote, “you won't have a calculator in your pocket when you're older”. In a sane world I'd be sat here Googling to find out the significance of the number 3.14. But I'm not, and that upsets me.

3) Any pie in Wigan. I'm sure they're very good. But there are a limited number of things I'd happily visit Wigan for and a pie is certainly not one of them.

2) The pies at Edgeley Park. There are many things I'd happily visit Edgeley Park for and the pies are one of them. Still not as good as the ones at Blackbird though. Sorry not sorry.

1) Ethan. Always Ethan. Although I've seen people on the Facebooks calling him Pyedini this week which doesn't even work. That's still not enough to take top spot away from him though.

Nick’s one of the co-hosts of SK3 TV, a new podcast for the 2024-25 season, with live episodes every Monday at 8pm. Click here for links.

John Giles, Stockport County Supporters Co-operative

County 3 Wigan 1

Remarkably, Wigan spent eight seasons in the Premier League. Do you think County will ever have a taste of the top flight?

At our recent evening with Dave Jones, he was discussing whether County could make the Premier League. He thought his team could have done it, with a couple of extra additions, but Southampton came calling. The point he made was that the Championship is much stronger and the teams much bigger than they were around 27 years ago. The cost of being in the Championship is staggering with the infrastructure and wages. His view was that County making the Championship today would be the equivalent of us being in the Premier League!

Joining the Stockport County Supporters Co-operative costs £12 a year for adults, £3 for those aged 16-25 or £1 for under-16s. Click here for further details.

Today’s other predictions

Hatters Matters: County 2 Wigan 0

The County Away Day Show: County 2 Wigan 1

The Scarf Bergara Wore: County 2 Wigan 1

Give your car a lick of paint

Granted, Stockport used to be a little rough around the edges. But the town’s getting a good old lick of paint these days, with fancy new offices, apartments, bars and restaurants springing up. You can’t be driving up and down the A6 in a tatty car with chipped paintwork, so give your car a nice lick of paint too. Colourtone is your go-to company for that. They’ve been servicing the automotive and industrial markets in Cheshire and Greater Manchester for decades, and carry an extensive range of car paint and industrial paints.

Visit colourtone.com for further details.

Photo of the day

DW Stadium, Wigan

An unbelievably freezing cold night the last time we played Wigan – a 2-0 defeat at their place last December as we exited the Bristol Street Motors Trophy.

Today in SK

🍺 Food and drink

Pop in for a pint at Heaton Hops (SK4), CAMRA Pub of the Year for Stockport and South Manchester.

Enjoy a taste of Bavaria in Bredbury with Oktoberfest at The Steelworks (SK6). German beers, music and snacks.

All pints £2.50 at The Cross Keys (SK8) from 6pm till 9pm.

If you’re simply in the mood for a couple of pints today, pop along to one of our featured venues such as AMP (SK1), The Crown (SK2), The Alexandra (SK3) or The Three Tunnes (SK7).

🎵 Karaoke

The Nelson Tavern (SK1) with Lee. From 8pm.

🎸 Live music

The Hidden at The Dog & Partridge (SK2). A female fronted rock and blues band, playing a mix of original music as well as some classics. 8pm.

Random photos of County players at other clubs

#21 – Nick Powell, Wigan

After being released by Man United in the summer of 2016, Nick Powell moved to Wigan, where he’d previously spent time on loan. Scored 15 goals in 2017-18 to help the Latics win the League One title.