Pickled onions for breakfast, ironic singing to keep warm, and a traffic jam on the M62… it’s Wigan away!
Plus! 27 photos from County’s first game of 2024
Tuesday 2 January 2024
NEXT HOME GAME: Walsall – Saturday 13 January, 3pm
NEXT AWAY GAME: Notts County – Saturday 20 January, 3pm
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.
✅ County are top of the league
✅ Kyle Knoyle’s OK
✅ Mentell raised awareness superbly yesterday by capturing the attention of the whole ground at half-time
✅ I got a photo of a belting ponytail
It’s the first day back at work for lots of County fans today, and I’m sure most of us are still feeling a bit down after that defeat yesterday, so I thought I’d offer a little bit of perspective this morning, hopefully cheering you up in the process.
Today might feel like a slog for lots of Hatters, so I thought I’d leave the 2-0 defeat for now. Instead, let’s have… actually we do have to sit through a 2-0 defeat today as we’re looking back at Wigan away. John K Bilsbury, Kev Richardson and Eddie Powell share their away day tales from a very cold DW Stadium.
Today’s edition is sponsored by Malbern Solar. My thanks to Wayne and Vicki. If you’d like to save money on your energy bills, make sure you book your FREE survey, worth £150. Full details below.
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: 46.68 miles
Total steps so far: 83,302
Total raised so far: £1,037
Total completed streets so far: 24 (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
🎶 “We go to all the away matches, by bus, by train, by car….. And we get so pissed before the game, we don’t know where we are!” 🎶
A lyric from a classic County song gave Des Junior a little bit of inspiration for this regular feature – why have one away day review when you can have three! So when County are playing away from home (well, unless it’s like Plymouth on a Tuesday night), The Scarf My Father Wore will be sending three intrepid reporters out into the unknown to share their tales from motorways and train stations across the country.
A Wednesday night trip Wigan, in December, in the Bristol Street Motors Trophy, wasn’t the most appealing proposition in the run-up to Christmas. We did manage to find three Hatters to speak to, though. John K Bilsbury was on the Fingerpost Flyer, Kev Richardson got the train from Liverpool after work, and Eddie Powell suffered the M60 and M62.
⏰ Up
John: Half six. A bit late for me. Although I’m retired I still get up around five like I did when I was working.
Kev: 6.45am.
Eddie: Got up at 7am, which is the norm on a Wednesday for me.
🍳 Breakfast
John: It should have been granola and yoghurt but we were out of yoghurt and granola’s tough going without some lubricant, so I did the hunter-gatherer bit and found some pate, three pieces of Ryvita and a few homemade pickled onions <burp>. Breakfast of champions. Also two cups of black coffee made from the coffee advent calendar that No.2 daughter bought me before Christmas.
Kev: A bagel with Philadelphia.
Eddie: Bowl of cereal and a cup of tea.
⬅️ Before
John: I had nine hours to fill so I started by taking Flori the Dog to Great Moor Park for a mooch about. Did a bit of work on the latest wagon for the garden railway (it’s a War Department Light Railways generator van for the ferroequinologists out there) then walked Flori again. Lunch was the special from Crossley’s: minced beef pie, chips and gravy.
Kev: Went to work!
Eddie: I volunteer for Stockport Community Foundation on a Wednesday morning for a couple of hours, along with some of the Help the Hatters crew. We play bingo, have a quiz, do yoga and art therapy, and there’s tea and coffee as well.
👕 Clobber
John: I seem to be getting more and more nesh in my dotage, so I tend to wear as many clothes as possible while still being able to walk. The ensemble comprised thermal underwear, black Urban Voodoo Machine T-shirt, Ixion polo shirt, black strides, blue County hoodie, brown Meindl boots to support my knackered ankle and a green full length coat my employer bought me to go to Erie PA a few winters ago. Those organising the Chanel Fashion Week in Manchester wouldn’t have had much to worry about.
Kev: County shirt, jeans and a woolly cardie – which wasn’t woolly enough!
Eddie: County shirt, County scarf, bobble hat.
🛫 Outbound
John: Fraught, although I was glad to get a pair of seats to myself so I was able to stretch out. There was some doubt about the departure time and our driver was worried that we were going to struggle to arrive before kick-off. As it turned out we were there with half an hour to spare but for some reason we
parked up well away from the ground, so I was blowing for tugs by the time I got to my seat.
Kev: Excellent. A load of trains had been cancelled at Liverpool Lime Street but mine was bang on time.
Eddie: A bloody awful journey! Set off at 4.20pm but didn’t get to Wigan until 6.20pm. Heavy traffic on the M60, then a traffic jam on the M62 because of a lorry fire on the M6 Birmingham turn-off, which was obviously shut.
🍺 Pre-match
John: Tried to get my breath back!
Kev: Walked to the ground, had a pie and a pint, and then a hot dog too as I was feeling extravagant/hungry.
Eddie: Picked up my son Archie… quickly!
🏙 Destination
John: We didn’t see much of it, the ground being in a retail park. My parents were from that part of the world so I’d like to have had a look round.
Kev: It was dark. (Literally more than metaphorically.)
Eddie: Wigan is OK. Archie lives there with his mum so I’m up there every week.
🏟 Visitors
John: It was nothing special, just your average modern football ground. Decent
view, reasonable legroom. You’d need a lot more fans in the place to generate any atmosphere.
Kev: Bloody freezing.
Eddie: Catering was the same as other grounds, but with more room to move when you’re served.
1️⃣ First
John: Sat and shivered for the most part, there wasn’t much in our performance to
warm the cockles.
Kev: Stood up.
Eddie: Tried to keep warm.
🍿 Interval
John: With a couple of minutes to go in injury time, I nipped below to syphon the python and grab a pie and a Bovril in an attempt to gain some warmth. The Bovril was OK but the meat and potato pie was a poor effort, considering the area’s reputation.
Kev: Went down to the concourse to try and get warm. Had a piss. Bumped into an old mate.
Eddie: Tried to keep warm.
2️⃣ Second
John: The combined efforts of the Bovril, the pie and an improved performance from
the team had me feeling a bit warmer and more enthused.
Kev: Stood up.
Eddie: Tried to keep warm.
⚫️ Us
John: We were few, but as noisy as possible given how one-sided the first half
was.
Kev: We tried our best, but it was cold. Started off in excellent spirits but the goals killed that off and then the lack of circulation to our limbs didn't help matters as the match went on. Did I mention it was bloody freezing? Lots of ironic singing to keep warm which was a bit annoying at times.
Eddie: Brilliant and vocal as always.
🔵 Them
John: There were some present, I could see them, but they didn’t have much to say.
Kev: The attendance said there were about 2,500 of them but it only seemed like 1,000 or so. Pisspoor.
Eddie: Very quiet.
🍻 Post-match
John: Pegged it back to the coach, which was now even further away than where we’d left it. I was jolly glad to get aboard.
Kev: Walked back to Wigan North Western.
Eddie: Had a KFC and then took Archie back home.
🛬 Inbound
John: Uneventful. I passed the time by listening to the radio commentary of Villa
v Citeh. I find that watching or listening to a match I’m not invested in is a good antidote to a disappointing performance by my own team. Janice picked me up from The Fingerpost so I was home for 10.30.
Kev: Train back to Liverpool was great. But all the connecting trains were cancelled which meant I had to get a bus back to the Wirral.
Eddie: A lot better than setting off for the game.
➡️ After
John: Being somewhat peckish, I enjoyed a Bombay Bad Boy Pot Noodle. Sometimes
only crap food will do the trick.
Kev: Cheese on toast then bed.
Eddie: A quick brew before bed.
🛏 Bed
John: About half past eleven, I think. A bit late for me but it wasn’t a school night, even if our midfield did get a bit of a lesson in the first half.
Kev: 11.45pm.
Eddie: Very late! It was probably midnight when I got to bed.
💷 Cost
John: Coach £15. Ticket £5. Pie and Bovril £7. Total £27.
Kev: About £50.
Eddie: £47 on tickets and food for me and Archie.
🏅 Rating
John: Nobody died, not even of the cold or disappointment, so it could have been
worse, but it was a bit of a dead loss overall. 5/10.
Kev: You may be surprised given the scoreline but 8 out of 10. New ground ticked off, good conversations, and very much like Chally, the team and other County fans, I still don't think any of us really knew how much we wanted to win the match either.
Eddie. 3/10. One for the team sheet, one for the food, one for the game.
So there you have it folks, three tales from Wigan away, and it’s a victory for… THE TRAIN!
Are you going to County’s first away game of 2024 at Meadow Lane? Email thescarfmyfatherwore@substack.com if you fancy writing about your trip to Nottingham.
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(Not So) Happy New Year
27 photos from Mansfield at home
Random County fan of the day #2 – John Hornsby! (“Hornsby Hornsby Hornsby”)
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