“It’s not been a bad season”

Our great big review of the 2024-25 League One campaign kicks off today, starting with Lincoln

May 06, 2025

Tuesday 6 May 2025

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NEXT HOME GAME: Leyton Orient – Wednesday 14 May, 8pm

NEXT AWAY GAME: Leyton Orient – Saturday 10 May, 12.30pm

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

For supporters of Charlton, Wycombe, Leyton Orient and, of course, little old Stockport County, the 2024–25 campaign is far from over with the play-offs kicking off this Saturday. But for 20 of the 24 teams in League One this season, everything’s already done and dusted. It’s time to get cracking with our great big review of the season. Over the next few weeks, we’ll be featuring all 24 clubs from the third tier, starting with Lincoln City. Gary Hutchinson from The Stacey West is the first to give his verdict on the last ten months.

As you can see from the photos above, I saw County lose 2-1 at Sincil Bank in October. I was also in a bouncing Cheadle End last month to witness Dave Challinor’s men beat Lincoln 3-2 having been two goals down at the break. In fact, for the first time in my life, I’ve been to every single County game this season – all 54 of them! That number will increase to 56 this month with two games against Leyton Orient, and hopefully 57 if we can reach Wembley for the seventh time in our history. I’ve written a book about my adventures this season. If you’d like to support the publication by having your name printed in the book (along with a signed copy and a ticket to the book launch) drop me an email.

Today’s edition is sponsored by CFN School of Motoring. A big thank you to Craig.

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: 253.75 miles

Total steps so far: 418,084

Total raised so far: £2,302

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

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Best moment of 2024-25?

Finishing the London Marathon in aid of the Lincoln City Foundation. It’s all about me.

Oh, you meant in football terms? Thrashing Peterborough 5-1 at the Bank has to be right up there, our biggest win over the old enemy. The 3-0 win against Mansfield, our biggest winning margin at Field Mill, was sweet as well.

Worst moment of 2024-25?

Christmas. Boxing Day defeat against a rubbish Shrewsbury side; long trip on the 29th to Bolton only for our best player to be sent off for two yellow cards, both for dissent, one as the players walked off at half-time; lost to Fatty Evans and his team of Rotherham thugs on New Year’s Day to round off an awful festive period.

Funniest moment of 2024-25?

I quite enjoyed Evans getting sacked. Certainly made me chuckle. Same goes for Mark Kennedy getting the boot at Swindon. Some of our fans thought he was hard done by, but I guess he proved not.

The Birmingham Boasters and the Wrexham Wazzocks seem to have annoyed a lot of fans in League One this season. Which one are you most glad to see the back of?

A few Wrexham fans hacked me off on the last day, coming in our fanzone after the match looking for a fight. There’s some decent fans among them, but I won’t be sorry to see the roadshow trundle on to the Championship and let League One settle back into a proper rhythm.

Reform have been making a lot of noise recently. Based on this season, what’s in most need of reform at Lincoln, on or off the pitch?

Too much noise, and living in Lincolnshire, it’s loudest here.

I think if anything needs reform it would be the social media attitude of some of our supporters who think a top half League One finish from a budget position of 17th means our manager is a clown. Spoiler alert: he isn’t.

Four Four Two had you down to finish 12th, EFL pundit Gabriel Sutton thought you’d finish 6th, while the Opta supercomputer predicted you’d be 5th. You finished 11th. Discuss.

Pretty sure I said 11th, so I know best. I can’t prove it, but I’m absolutely sure I did.

Truth is we’re a mid-table side on a lower half budget, so I’ll take that. It’s not been a bad season.

Lincoln 2 County 1 in October. County 3 Lincoln 2 in April. Thoughts?

Both fair results, both decent matches of football. Probably, both the right results as well.

Tanto completed County’s stunning second-half comeback against Lincoln in April (Photo credit: Mike Petch)

Best and worst away days of 2024-25?

The best was probably Peterborough – good place to drink beforehand, picked up a point and the sun was shining. Plus, it’s only just up the road, so time for a few in the local when we got home.

Worst would probably be Bolton. Rubbish result, no pubs within a decent distance of the ground, and it was bloody cold. Honourable mention to Rotherham – my mate wanted to be in an hour before to watch the warm-up, then a floodlight failure meant it kicked off an hour late. Home in the middle of the night and lost six toes to frostbite.

Which Lincoln player is most deserving of his couple of weeks on the beach this summer?

Sean Roughan. Played every minute of the season. Massive that.

Never mind Welcome to Wrexham on Disney+, a TV production company have just made Lincoln City: The Story of 2024-25. Which channel would it be most suited for?

Babestation. If it’s still a thing. Obviously I don’t actually know.

And finally, apologies for darkening the mood, but you’ve only got 30 seconds to live. Putin’s pressed the red button and we’re all about to die. You can have one last moment of pleasure, watching a single Lincoln goal from this season. What you sticking on?

It would be Jovon Makama’s third in the 5-0 win against Bristol Rovers. It wasn’t the best of the day, but I’ve championed that lad for much of the season. He’s taken so much stick, so to bag a third and complete his first ever hat-trick (our first academy graduate to do so in 40 years) was satisfying.

➡️ Any Lincoln fans joining us today? As stated above, I’ve written a book having watched every County game home and away this season. There’s obviously two big chapters on Lincoln included (home and away). Also, as I celebrated my 40th birthday this season, I’ve written about my four decades as a County fan as well, which I’m hoping will be an enjoyable read for anyone who supports a lower league club. There’s memories of beating four Premier League clubs as County reached the Coca-Cola Cup semi-finals in 1996-97, the club’s rise from the National League North to the brink of the Championship over the last few years, and the tale of a trip to Blackpool 20 years ago when me and my mates had a run-in with armed police after a day on the ale…

If you’d like to support the book, click on the link below to become a paid subscriber and I’ll post you a signed copy with your name printed inside once it’s published.

Get yourself on the road with CFN School of Motoring

If you’re looking for driving lessons, give Craig a call, who’s been a driving instructor for over 20 years. He offers a full and thorough driver education experience. Driving is a skill for life and must not be under-estimated. Craig provides a training environment to facilitate client centred learning, which will ensure that your driving lessons are tailored to suit your development requirements, helping you to develop at a pace that suits your ability and learning capacity. All of Craig’s customers leave his care as safe, competent and confident drivers!

➡️ Visit craignicksonadi.co.uk for further details.

Photo(s) of the day

It’s Leyton Orient in the play-offs for County. Ahead of the first leg at their place on Saturday, I’ll be sharing all the photos from my last trip to Brisbane Road in February, when Kyle Wootton’s early goal gave County all three points in the capital.

Chapter 6: Southbound

After beating Crawley Town in the play-off semi-final, Stockport County are heading to Wembley! The latest instalment of our ChatGPT adventure takes us onto the coach leaving Edgeley early in the morning, with County fan Danny Hartley and his daughter Lucy making the long journey down south.

The coach pulled out of Edgeley at 7:13 AM, twenty-seven minutes behind schedule.

Danny Hartley sat by the window, rucksack between his knees, thermos clutched in his hands like a relic. Next to him, Lucy was already wide awake and wide-eyed, Wembley shirt under her jacket, headphones around her neck, her notebook wedged between her thighs.

They weren’t the only ones buzzing.

The whole coach throbbed with a nervous, giddy energy — part school trip, part pilgrimage, part booze cruise. Scarves hung over seatbacks. Someone near the front had rigged up a mini speaker playing ‘Blue Moon’ on a loop. Every time it ended, a different chant took its place.

Lucy leaned her head on Danny’s shoulder. “We’re actually doing this.”

He smiled. “Feels like a dream, doesn’t it?”

“No. Feels real. Like we’re on the edge of something.”

The coach rolled through the empty streets of Stockport — past Castle Street, past the bakery where Danny used to buy sausage rolls as a kid, past the boarded-up video shop that still had a sun-bleached poster of Speed 2: Cruise Control in the window. The whole town looked hungover on hope. Banners fluttered on fences. Blue and white balloons bobbed outside kebab shops. Even the traffic lights seemed to blink slower, like they didn’t want to stop anyone today.

By the time they hit the M6, the buzz had risen.

People were singing. Drinking. Sharing stories.

“Remember that night at Runcorn?” someone shouted. Laughter. “Christ, we were lucky to get out with our wheels.”

Someone passed around a tub of sweets — Parma Violets, sherbet lemons, things that shouldn’t survive past 1995 but somehow always did on away days.

Big Mick was three rows behind, handing out mints and shouting trivia questions about County’s 2008–09 squad. Lucy got four right. Danny got none. She didn’t let him forget it.

The miles peeled away.

In front of them, coach after coach passed in the same direction — navy and white flags taped to windows, lads leaning out with phones filming the blur of motorways and memory.

A group from the King’s Head had brought cardboard cut-outs of famous ex-players. Kevin Francis was strapped into a seat with a seatbelt. Jim Gannon sat cross-legged in the aisle. Someone put a County bobble hat on a laminated Paulo Di Canio, for reasons no one could explain.

Danny sipped lukewarm tea and watched the world go by.

His mind wandered — to his dad, to that first game on the cold concrete steps of the Railway End. To all the years in between — the bad Tuesdays, the good Saturdays, the silent car rides home after defeats that felt personal. He wished his dad could’ve seen this. Just this journey. Just the knowledge they’d made it back to relevance.

Next to him, Lucy was scribbling in her notebook.

“What now?” he asked.

“Set-piece ideas. I saw something in a Bundesliga game — near-post flick-on with a screen from the second man.”

Danny blinked. “You’re sixteen.”

“Exactly. I’m adaptable.”

He grinned. “Show Challinor that and he’ll put you on the bench.”

“I wouldn’t sit down.”

They stopped at a service station outside Northampton.

Fans spilled out of four coaches, like a football army in denim and polyester. Blue smoke flared from somewhere near the WHSmiths. A toddler in a tiny kit kicked a balloon toward a cluster of teenagers with face paint. Someone bought a sausage roll and declared it “definitely cursed.”

Danny stretched his legs and looked around.

Dozens of fans. Hundreds of accents. All on the same road. All heading south for one shared dream.

He saw a couple in their seventies sitting on a bench with flask and foil-wrapped sandwiches. A young lad with “Jenkins 9” taped onto a plain white shirt. A girl with Bonnie Blue’s poem printed on the back of her coat.

It struck him again — this wasn’t just football. It was culture. Identity. A language spoken in chants and curses and late goals.

Back on the coach, someone cracked open a second crate. The volume went up.

By the time they hit the M1, everyone had given up pretending they were going to sleep.

Lucy was doing TikToks with snippets of road signs and bus songs. Danny didn’t understand any of it, but he loved the sound of her laughing.

Then — at 12:43 PM — it came into view.

The arch.

It rose on the horizon like something out of mythology. Not quite real. Not quite solid. Just there — gleaming, hovering, daring you to believe.

A hush fell across the coach. Not silence, exactly. But a sharp intake of breath. Like everyone needed a second to process it.

“There it is,” Danny said softly.

Lucy stared.

She didn’t speak. She just reached over, gripped his hand, and held it tight.

They were here.

The driver took the final turn and the coach dipped toward the car parks. All around them, thousands of others arrived — flags, flares, chants, dreams.

Wembley.

The word didn’t even feel like a place anymore.

It felt like a challenge.

As they filed off the coach and began walking — toward the steps, toward the concourse, toward the future — Danny turned to Lucy.

“You ready?”

She nodded.

“No matter what happens?” he asked.

She looked up at the arch.

“No,” she said. “Because I want this too much.”

Danny smiled. That was the right answer.

They walked on — through the crowd, into the shadow of the stadium, into history.

Still dreaming.

Still together.

And still — just about — believing.

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. Also, double up for £2 on premium spirits.

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

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 Three Tunnes (SK7), Flute & Firkin (SK12) and The Ram’s Head (SK12). Support them this month by popping in for a few drinks or a bite to eat.