The Goalkeepers’ Union

In the first of a four-part series, our writers review the performances of every County player to make an appearance in 2024-25

Jun 09, 2025

Monday 9 June 2025

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.

THE SCARF MY FATHER WORE 2025-26 CALENDAR: Having been to all 56 County games this season, I’ve taken thousands of photos. I’ve put together calendars for next season, featuring some of my favourite photos from the last year, plus some other County bits and bobs. £10 each. Get in touch if you’d like one.

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

The fixtures for the 2025-26 League One season will be released on Thursday 26 June, which for me is always the starting point for the new campaign. That gives me just over a fortnight to get everything boxed off from last season. I need to do season reviews for Wigan, Northampton, Stevenage, Cambridge and Bristol Rovers; I need to collate all the results from our predictions competition now the play-offs have finally been completed; and I’m also going to publish an exclusive extract from my book. I can get all of that completed over the next couple of weeks.

In addition to the above, we’ve also got a four-part series reflecting on the performances of every County player over the last year. It’s the goalies to start with. Dave Philbin and Simon Holt share their opinions on Corey and Ben.

Today’s edition is sponsored by Mark Diamond and Andrew Smirthwaite from The Agency UK. A big thank you to both!

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: £2,312

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

Photo credit: Mike Petch

Corey Addai

35 appearances / 0 goals

1 yellow card / 0 red cards

I think Corey himself would agree that his County career didn’t get off to the best of starts. He had the biggest of gloves to fill and looking back it was probably quite unfair that he got thrust straight in on the opening day. He was rested for a while until an injury to Ben, and made some blinding saves on his first game back in the second half at Wigan. From that moment the whole fanbase took to him, he took to us, and his performances got better and better. It went from possibly costing us points to definitely winning us points as the season went on, right up until the last league game at Wycombe where his penalty save was a catalyst for us to go on and win.

Rating: I think the first half of the season would be a 5/10, but with the work he clearly put in and the amount he improved, I’ll give him 8/10 overall.

Dave Philbin

Ben Hinchliffe

23 appearances / 0 goals

1 yellow card / 0 red cards

After losing his place in the team at the start of the season, Ben provided us with a really solid base at his highest ever level of football after he came back into the team, cementing his place as our greatest of all time. Unfortunate to miss the run-in through injury, you’d imagine he’d start next season – his testimonial year – on the bench, but you wouldn’t bet against him coming back to reclaim his spot yet again! It’s still not impossible he could become the first County player to play in five divisions for the club.

Rating: 8/10.

Simon Holt

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Photo(s) of the day

Bask, Stockport

Bask closed its doors for the final time last night. (It’s rebranding as an Irish/American bar.)

It’s fair to say the place went downhill in recent months, but we had some incredible County parties in there. Here’s a few snaps from the night we celebrated our League Two title in 2024.

Today in SK

🎬 Cinema

One film at The Savoy Cinema (SK4) this evening. Mission: Impossible – The Final Reckoning (12A) at 6.30pm. Click here for tickets.

🍺 Food and drink

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

If you’re heading out for a few beers tonight, pop into one of our featured venues such as The Crown (SK2), The Dog & Partridge (SK2), The Crown Inn (SK6), The Three Tunnes (SK7) and Flute & Firkin (SK12).