Death warmed up in Derbyshire

A hungover trip to Chesterfield on New Year's Day 2011

Feb 19, 2025

Wednesday 19 February 2025

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NEXT HOME GAME: Blackpool – Saturday 1 March, 3pm

NEXT AWAY GAME: Cambridge United – Saturday 22 February, 3pm

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

No midweek action for County this week (although a huge thank you to those cheeky Cockneys from East London for winning at Wrexham last night!) so once again I’ve delved into my archives to share one of my old pieces with you. I’m fast approaching two years sober, but I used to drink a lot of alcohol back in the day. A hell of a lot! One of those occasions was New Year’s Eve back in 2010, which led to a very hungover trip to Chesterfield the following day.

Today’s edition is sponsored by Kingsway Carpets. A big thank you to Neil.

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: 216.74 miles

Total steps so far: 353,516

Total raised so far: £2,270

Total completed streets so far: 474 (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

Is it just me or has New Year’s Eve gone a bit shit over the last year or two? It’s like a crap Christmas works do where people who would normally slag each other off by the water cooler during the working week are suddenly best mates for the night, stumbling round a bar with their arms round each other and basically annoying the fuck out of everybody else inside.

Pubs and bars are suddenly transformed into a playground for those once-a-year drinkers who turn into “Uncle Knobhead” as soon as the third or fourth double vodka Red Bull has passed their lips. Bouncers - yes, those same bouncers who have spent the previous 364 days being abusive, obnoxious, and generally aggressive dishing out black eyes and bloodied noses for fun - shove a black bucket into your stomach and expect you to chuck in a few quid to contribute to their “Christmas tip”. Pubs that you’ve shown loyalty to all year, where you’ve helped to keep them going with your hard-earned wages, now charge you a tenner just to get through the door. But it’s OK, there’s free egg sandwiches on offer and a shit Abba tribute band to pass the night away.

Single women will get more emotional than they usually do in their desperate attempt to find a bloke, more inclined to be all over any willing recipient like a rash as they vow not to start 2011 in the same way they finished 2010 - sat in their pyjamas on a Saturday night watching The X Factor and pigging out on a box of Milk Tray. And when you’ve had enough of all that bollocks at the end of the night and just want to get into your bed, you’ve got more chance of seeing Osama Bin Laden rustling up kebabs in Spice Land than you have of flagging a taxi down.

But despite all of that, you know you’re still going to end up going out on New Year’s Eve, like it’s some sort of unwritten rule. It’s the end of the year and a chance to let your hair down, as if going on a night out has been forbidden for the previous 51 weeks of the year. You’ll spend more money on a night out than you have done all year, probably won’t have as good a time, struggle to get home before it starts going light and in the morning you’ll feel worse than you ever have done before as you pledge to “never drink again”, before ordering a pint in the pub a few hours later. Despite my New Year’s Eve reservations, I still went out to celebrate it yet again. Oh come on, I’m a single 26-year-old lad. What am I expected to do? I’ve got the rest of my life to sit in on 31 December watching Jools Holland’s Hoot… Hootanan… Hooter… that music programme they stick on.

Even though myself, and no doubt numerous other County fans across SK3, would be waking up on New Year’s Day with sore heads and queasy tummies, the Football League still went and organised a full set of fixtures. And what makes it worse is that they gave County one of the better away days in League Two.

Chesterfield away has always done something for me. Not in a sexual way - I’m not one of these weirdos from off the telly who gets off every time they see a train or an empty crisp packet or something (now there’s a new Channel 4 documentary in the making if ever I saw one). But there’s something mystical about the scenic drive into deepest Derbyshire - through quaint little villages that you wouldn’t necessarily choose to live in but are perfect for County piss-up pre-season friendlies in July - before the lopsided spire comes into view. In truth, the events of 28 April 1997 might have something to do with it as well. Ever since Brett Angell got his head onto Alun Armstrong’s cross at Saltergate, in the fifth minute of the penultimate game of the 1996-97 season, Chesterfield away has always sparked fond memories.

Now take any away game during the football season and you’ll find a great deal of meticulous planning goes into it by travelling supporters: train fares, ticket prices, meeting times at McDonald’s for an early morning stomach-lining. But New Year’s Day is slightly different. New Year’s Day comes the day after New Year’s Eve. And New Year’s Eve sees people embark on a heavier drinking session than usual. So despite Chesterfield being one of the more fancied away games of the season, the fact that it clashed with the New Year celebrations meant that any proper plans were shelved and it became one of those “let’s see if we can be arsed in the morning if we’re not feeling too rough” games.

I woke from my drunken slumber as the first rays of 2011 sunshine seeped through my curtains. Although I quickly realised they weren’t my curtains. I then realised I hadn’t made it home. I was, in fact, lying in a young boy’s bed. Having just read that last sentence back, and before I get lynched on Hardcastle Road, can I just point out that the bed actually belonged to Cashy’s younger brother, who had stayed somewhere else.

As for Cashy and I? Well we’d finally stumbled back to his Hazel Grove residence at six in the morning and it was at this point I was extremely glad that no firm plans for Chesterfield had been put in place. Two house parties, a late night bar in Fallowfield, and then a completely unnecessary stop for a few glasses of port at a mate’s house on the way home had left me feeling a little delicate. I wasn’t the only one happy that no arrangements had been made. I hadn’t spoken to Cashy in the five minutes or so I’d been awake but the sound of vomiting coming from the bathroom confirmed that all was not well with his body too.

I could have quite happily stayed in bed all day. It wouldn’t have been the first time I’ve missed a County game on a Saturday after over-indulging on alcoholic delights the night before. But as I’ve already mentioned, having watched County clinch automatic promotion in the Derbyshire town nearly 14 years ago, there is something special about Chesterfield away. So after a quick shower, and a lift down to the train station, our hangovers were transferred (well… forced) onto the half 12 train to Sheffield. I’ve not taken too many trains on New Year’s Day before but it seems to attract a mixture of families heading for a day out and dishevelled lads doing their utmost not to vomit everywhere. It was fairly obvious which category we fell into. As the day wore on we actually started to feel slightly better and, after a quick change in Sheffield, by the time we pulled into Chesterfield our New Year hangovers were starting to fade.

Chesterfield appeared to be a bit of a ghost town when we arrived. Quite a few pubs and bars were shut but we eventually found our mates who had made it to Derbyshire before us, predictably in Yates’s. And predictably drinking Pepsi. I was walking in a straight line but I certainly wasn’t in any fit state to start drinking again. Even if I wanted to partake in a little dog hair I had fanzines to try and shift anyway so I left my mates with their carbonated soft drinks and headed to the ground.

When you get close to the ground and see it hiding in the shadow of a giant Tesco, it doesn’t feel like a proper football ground. Chesterfield’s new flat-pack hadn’t got off to the best of starts with me, and it had a lot of impressing to do as I was one of Saltergate’s biggest fans. I loved Chesterfield’s old home. The fact it hosted one of the greatest nights in Stockport County’s history didn’t do it any harm. But I loved the charm and character of the place as well. From the outside toilets and terraced steps of the away end to the steep, wooden Main Stand, Saltergate had everything for the old-school football fan. It’s no coincidence that Saltergate was used extensively in The Damned United when producers were looking for a traditional football ground to use in the film.

The b2net Stadium is brand new, and looks all shiny on first inspection, but I don’t think we’ll be waxing lyrical about Chesterfield’s new home in years to come. It just doesn’t feel like a proper football ground to me. There’s no right or wrong way of looking at the ground debate and if supporters enjoy watching games at new stadiums like Chesterfield’s then there’s nothing wrong with that at all. For me personally though, I’ve been brought up watching football on old terraces at places like York and Wrexham and I get far more enjoyment watching County at grounds that are clearly in need of a lick of paint than these new pop-up stadiums that come straight off the shelf.

There could quite easily be a time when County have to leave Edgeley Park in the future but I just hope we try and be a bit unique and creative in any building of our new home rather than plump for one of these identical stadiums that clubs seem to be so keen on these days. There’s something wrong with football when you watch the highlights on television from grounds such as Colchester’s and Shrewsbury’s and you’re not entirely sure which ground you’re looking at.

To be fair, there was a good atmosphere inside the b2net on New Year’s Day. Chesterfield fans had come out in force fully expecting to see their team pick up another three points, and having won at Barnet a few days earlier, County fans travelled to Derbyshire in good numbers.

As for the game, County produced a spirited performance and came away with a hard-fought point after a close 1-1 draw. Well, that might have been the headline had it not been for Jack Lester’s hat-trick. I know you can’t simply look at the list of scorers, take one of them out and then work out a new scoreline. But County did play well for about an hour at Chesterfield and Lester’s finishing was the difference between the two sides. As it was, County crashed to a 4-1 defeat and the fight to stay in the Football League doesn’t get any easier.

It took a while to get away from the ground afterwards. Well, that’s what happens when you build it next to a giant Tesco. But we finally got back to the station and were soon on a train out of Chesterfield, having decided not to stick around for a pint as we were still feeling rough 12 hours on from getting into bed.

As for Chesterfield, I’ll still enjoy making the trip to Derbyshire to watch County (although there will probably be two divisions between us next season). But that b2net will never be a patch on Saltergate.

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Photo of the day

Edgeley Park, Stockport

A few famous faces were sat outside Edgeley Park in their car when Cambridge came to town on the opening day of this season.

Today in SK

🥃 Food and drink

The Nelson Tavern (SK1) have a great range of offers throughout the week, including £5.50 for drinks off the Doubles Bar, a comprehensive range of shots for £1.50, and 3 for £7 on Jägerbombs.

Bitter £2.30 a pint all day at The Cross Keys (SK8).

A number of venues are featured on The Scarf My Father Wore such as The Crown (SK2), The Dog & Partridge (SK2), The Alexandra (SK3), The Crown Inn (SK6), The Steelworks (SK6), The Three Tunnes (SK7) and The Ram’s Head (SK12). Support them this month by popping in for a few drinks and a bite to eat.