“I hope you're giving him the love he deserves because at his best he is brilliant”

A catch-up with our regular Crawley correspondent Dan Jones ahead of Corey Addai’s return to the Broadfield Stadium on Saturday

Sep 11, 2024

Wednesday 11 September 2024

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

Our Crawley build-up kicks off today with Dan Jones, as County prepare for the long trip to West Sussex this weekend.

Today’s edition is sponsored by DT Plastering Services and Damp Proofing Specialists. A big thank you to David. If you need a quote for any work that needs doing, give him a call on 07774 325529 or email dtplasteringservices@gmail.com.

Thanks also to The New Moon who sponsor our Crawley Town content on the website.

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: £2,001

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

It’s County’s third season back in the Football League, and Crawley have been with us for all three. You’re becoming a bit of a regular writer on The Scarf My Father Wore so I suppose I should be polite and kick off by asking you how uni’s going in Leeds?

Undergrad done and dusted, panic masters getting underway in the next few weeks. They'll take my student railcard from my cold dead hands.

Right, on with the questions. Actually, the first one isn’t a question. One of my mates simply told me to say thank you for beating Crewe at Wembley. Any reply?

I can only assume that he's saying it out of sincere joy to be making the trip to West Sussex once again, so you're very welcome!

Some of my other mates did submit questions. Here’s one of them. How many carrots would you have to see randomly placed around your house before you became suspicious?

I'd say probably 8-10 as it's sort of par for the course living with an enormously untidy vegetarian.

Corey Addai’s conceded one in four so far since his summer move. He’s pretty good isn’t he?

He is ridiculous in every sense of the word. Watching him spend his warm-ups solely focusing on keepie uppies, I've never seen a goalkeeper so disinterested in actual goalkeeping, yet is somehow still able to pull off superhuman saves when called upon. He's capable of doing Cruyff turns on his own goalline, he's capable of saving penalties only for them to rebound in off his arse, and he will take years off your life through completely unnecessary stress but I hope you're giving him the love he deserves because at his best he is brilliant.

What kind of reception will he get on Saturday?

Hopefully positive. I still don't think a lot of our fans realise quite how essential he was to our promotion last year – partially because it was very easy to get distracted by the talent further up the pitch and partially because it took a little while for him to really convince as a number one. For me though if you look at his mad shot stopping numbers and some of his clutch performances to pick up vital points, there's been no player more important than Corey in getting us where we are and I hope our fans treat him accordingly.

Scott Lindsey’s not done a bad job at Crawley either, taking you into League One when most bookies and pundits thought you’d be starting this season in the National League. How long will you manage to keep hold of him?

As much as I'm sure he'd love to work in a slightly more stable environment than we can hope to offer, I also think it'd take the right vacancy to tempt him away. His bereavements have been well publicised, and for that reason even when he was favourite for the Preston job I wasn't really worried because I couldn't see him uprooting his family from Kent to the North West. If a southeastern club at the top of League One or bottom of the Championship need a manager any time soon though, I’ll be preparing myself for the worst.

Prediction for Saturday?

We should have a couple of key players coming back from injury and the two-week break has been a welcome one after a pretty intense early season schedule, but I think you'll have too much for an overhauled squad that's still gelling. I would bite your hand off for a point right now.

Where do you think you’ll finish this season?

So far we've had a couple of wins where we haven't looked particularly convincing, a defeat where we were largely excellent, and a bollocking in every sense of the word at the hands of Barnsley. If that trend continues over the course of 46 games it should see us somewhere around lower mid-table, but ultimately any finish above the dotted line will be a successful season.

Is it true that your chairman got an email from a Nigerian prince and that’s how you ended up with your latest signing?

A crypto bro falling for an obvious scam… surely not? When it was approaching 48 hours past the deadline with no news this was becoming an increasingly serious concern, but between his caps for the actual Nigerian national team, the ludicrous Tanzanian press release consisting of broken English and random pictures of sunflowers, and their subsequent announcement of a strategic partnership with us via the medium of some baffling AI generated slop, Benjamin has already secured cult hero status without setting foot on the pitch. It still wouldn't totally surprise me if it turned out he didn't exist and I guess that's part of the fun.

And finally, doing a little bit of research ahead of the weekend, your website tells me that your chairman Preston Johnson is hosting a small dinner party next week where he’ll cook dinner and answer questions for 10 fans. I can’t let you go without mentioning this, so…

A) What do you reckon he’s gonna be cooking?

He's complained a couple of times about the standard of Mexican food here since relocating over the summer so that'd be my guess. (Fairly reasonable, although there is a cracking spot in Leeds I can recommend.)

B) What question would you most like to ask him?

Are you absolutely, 100% sure that Benjamin Tanimu is a real person?

C) What gift would take him – flowers, chocolates or something else?

A bottle of something strong “for the table” that I can sequester to myself to drown out the crypto psychobabble.

Time for a spruce up at home?

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With the weather picking up, now’s a good time to think about external render repairs and render painting, with the photos above showing a fine transformation on a recent client’s house.

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Head to The New Moon for a pre-match pint on Saturday

There’s already two County coaches booked in at The New Moon on Saturday, before our game at Crawley. Their Facebook page promises “burgers, pints, gins, rums and a lot of fun”. Definitely worth a visit, eh?

Visit newmooncrawley.co.uk for further details.

Photo of the day

The Dutton Arms, Blackpool

A bunch of County fans enjoy their freedom with a trip to the seaside in 2021, right after the Covid lockdown came to an end.

Today in SK

🎬 Cinema

One film at The Savoy Cinema (SK4) tonight. Blink Twice (15) at 8.30pm. Click here for tickets.

🍺 Food and drink

Bitter £2.30 a pint all day at The Cross Keys (SK8). Plus, discounts on certain lagers between 12pm and 6pm.

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 Nelson Tavern (SK1), The Crown (SK2), The Dog & Partridge (SK2), The Crown Inn (SK6), The Steelworks (SK6) or The Three Tunnes (SK7).

🎤 Open mic night

The Armoury (SK3). 7pm.

⁉️ Quiz night

Baskminder at Bask (SK1). A brand new quiz experience with a £50 bar tab for the winners, plus prizes for second and third. 7.30pm. Free entry.

Random photos of County players at other clubs

#4 – Brett Angell, Everton

Super Brett Angell had two spells at County, first in the late 80s and then in the mid 90s. In between those, he was at Everton over a couple of seasons. Here he is giving Denis Irwin a tough time at Old Trafford.