The king has had his coronation, now let’s have the Carlisle summation…
Another six minutes and that would have been us…
Friday 2 June 2023
Dear County fans, Stopfordians, and (begrudgingly) any Carlisle supporters joining us today, a very warm welcome to your Friday edition of The Scarf My Father Wore.
Actually, Carlisle are pretty sound, aren’t they? Rather lose to them at Wembley than Stoke or Burnley put it that way. Fair play to the Cumbrians, and I’m sure we’ll have a decent crack at getting into League One ourselves next season. It’s been a memorable year up in Cumbria with hometown hero Paul Simpson back at the club. Here’s Carlisle fan Lewis Ridley to reflect on Wembley, and a few other bits and bobs as well.
Finally, a big thank you to The Butcher’s Block for sponsoring today’s edition. With Father’s Day coming up in a couple of weeks, you might be planning on putting together a special Sunday Roast. If you are, you should definitely place an order with The Butcher’s Block. They offer something new, from "Farmer's Gate to Table Plate", providing the finest produce with an innovative twist on tradition at a competitive price, all of which can be delivered to your door free of charge within a 16-mile radius from Poynton.
Enjoy today’s issue.
Des Junior
Had King Charles invited you to his coronation celebrations, and insisted you brought him the best food you’d experienced inside a League Two ground this season, what would you have treated him to?
I had to send my apologies for the coronation, as I was busy preparing myself mentally for our game at Sutton on the Monday. I’m not really one for scranning at away grounds, but Charles would be more than welcome to join us at Brunton Park in our fanzone. There’s a range of food available, the pick of which would be a pulled pork roll that’ll only set him back a fiver – or rather only set us back a fiver, presuming it would be on taxpayer expenses.
With that in mind, The Caledonian on Botchergate would be a shrude move. They do three bottles of Holsten for a fiver, so one for William and Harry too. Many a family feud has been settled on Botch, I see no reason why a good sup in there wouldn’t sort this one.
Charles is now king of the UK. But who would you choose to be crowned king of Brunton Park, and who would be locked up in the tower? You can pick anybody who’s had some sort of connection with the club this season.
The King of Brunton Park is Paul Simpson, for reasons that I needn’t go over. He has saved our club again.
Joining David Holdsworth in the tower, who was banished in February 2022, is Mark Hughes – his connection to the club is by way of obsession. Nobody enjoys talking about Carlisle United more than Mark Hughes; I’m sure him and Dave will have a lovely time.
Best moment of 2022-23?
It’s Wembley. Of course it’s Wembley. Not just the best moment of the season, or the best moment of my time following Carlisle United, but probably the best moment of my life – or at least one of them. The Omari Patrick equaliser completely ruined me. I managed to compose myself for the winning penalty, which was just the most euphoric feeling I’ve ever had at a game of football.
Worst moment of 2022-23?
Leyton Orient away at the start of April was pretty humbling. I know that most of our supporters didn’t take it too heavily as they were clearly heading for the title, but I felt we were second best by a fair bit. We were short on confidence, creativity, and crucially, goals – you couldn’t see where we’d get our next one from. It may come as a surprise that I’m not picking the 4-0 home defeat to Mansfield, but that really felt like a freak first half and it was actually quite easy to write off.
Funniest moment of 2022-23?
For seemingly no reason whatsoever, our club photographer has been pasting celebrities on to the terraces in our Facebook fan galleries. There has been, to my knowledge, no explanation as to why this is happening. I’m waiting for some sort of punchline, but there might not even be one. Considering we’ve had some bizarre moments with this football club in the past, this season has actually been pretty normal!
Four Four Two said you’d finish 16th. When Saturday Comes said you’d finish 17th. You finished 5th. Discuss.
No problem at all. We were tipped to go down by some. Nobody ever backed us to reach the play-offs, let alone go up. We’ve taken this underdog mentality and used it to our advantage. I think the bookies even had us as big as 9/4 to go up last Sunday. I’m sure we’ll be tipped for relegation next season by some, that’s absolutely fine with us.
County 2 Carlisle 0 in October. Carlisle 2 County 2 in April. Thoughts? (We’ll leave out Wembley if that’s alright…)
We didn’t turn up at Edgeley Park, we were miles off it and really it could’ve been more. This was the worry in the back of lots of our minds ahead of the final.
The home game was an absolute cracker though, what a performance from both sides going all out for three points. Had either side won, they’d have been bang in the automatic promotion race, but the result probably backed up just how well matched we both were.
Best away day of 2022-23?
Bradford away in the play-offs was brilliant: the atmosphere, how we really did turn up and outplayed them for most of the game, and the feeling that we really could do it.
As for the worst, it would probably be that game down in Stockport. I didn’t go to Gillingham, perhaps that would take it for those who went.
After decades travelling around the world, Sir David Attenborough’s most recent BBC documentary covered Great Britain. Let’s imagine David and his crew have been filming Carlisle fans throughout the 2022-23 season. In that famous voice of his, how would he describe them?
“Here we have a strange species from the very north of England. Serial outliers and having spent much of the last 17 years in the wilderness, the Carlisle United fan is a strong-willed and resilient animal. In recent months they have hunted in great numbers, with the older animals and the young pups complimenting each other to great effect. Though they may confuse the rest of the ecosystem with their boisterous ways, they are a proud and loyal bunch who have known nothing other than to follow their team through even the most difficult conditions. When their time came to strike, in north London in May, the entire animal kingdom knew that they would dine on this victory for the rest of their days. And they will.”
With Wrexham up and MK Dons down, there’s a couple of teams going into League Two who generally cause quite a lot of debate wherever they go. You’re on Moonpig.com buying a welcome card for both of them. What messages are going inside?
MK Dons: Welcome Back!
“Dear MK Dons, we’re sending this card to the Milton Keynes delivery office as we weren’t able to find an address for you directly, only one at “Plough Lane”. Have you moved somewhere new recently?”
Wrexham: Condolences
“Dear Wrexham, we’re really sorry it had to be this way. Many of us have wished for your club to be back in the Football League, it’s just a shame you had to buy your way back up. If you wanted a Hollywood script, you could’ve just followed Paul Simpson’s return over the past year or so.”
Click on the links below to read the previous 2022-23 reviews we’ve published so far.
Grimsby / Leyton Orient / Mansfield / Newport / Sutton / Swindon / Tranmere / Wimbledon
🎶 The sun is shining, the weather is sweet, it’s time for a BBQ, so get in touch with The Butcher’s Block for all your meat 🎶
A mash-up between Bob Marley and a Stockport-based butcher… yeah, that definitely hasn’t been done before. And looking at the song lyric above, you can probably see why. Des Junior singing Bob Marley classics on an acoustic guitar is probably one thing you won’t be having at your next BBQ. But a BBQ pack from The Butcher’s Block… that should definitely be making an appearance in your garden.
The picture above shows an example of one of The Butcher’s Block’s BBQ packs. This particular one, priced at £19.99, includes four beef burgers, six traditional pork sausages, four chicken kebabs marinated in chilli, ginger and lemon, and four beef grill sticks marinated in BBQ sauce. OK, you can stop dribbling now.
If you have a look at their website, you’ll see three other BBQ packs available, including items such as lamb burgers, steak kebabs and pork ribs.
The Butcher’s Block works closely with all of their suppliers to ensure they obtain the best in hand-picked produce on a weekly basis which guarantees their customers receive the best of the best. If you’re planning on having a BBQ soon, this is the only place you need for all your meat.
Visit butchersblockcheshire.co.uk for further details.
Today in SK
🥗 Food and drink 🥗
The Armoury (SK3) have just launched their new cocktail menu. Mark Stott definitely wouldn’t mind a Red Wine Cobbler, and Lee Todd’s going to be getting stuck into a Lounge Lizard or two. There’s eight cocktails to try in total; head down today to see which one tickles your tastebuds!
Friday Fiesta at TRUNK (SK7). There’s live music from Liam McClair starting at 7.30pm. Great company, tasty tapas and flowing drinks – what more could you want? Book online or call 0161 222 9260.
🎶 Music 🎶
The Nelson Tavern (SK1) have their resident DJ playing on a Friday night, with Dicko (Ian Dickinson) on from 8pm till 1am.
The Scarf My Father Wore works closely with venues on a daily basis to bring you the most comprehensive guide to all of the best offers and events taking place across the whole SK region. Click on the links below for full details of everything taking place in your area over the next few weeks.
SK1 / SK2 / SK3 / SK4 / SK5 / SK6 / SK7 / SK8 / SK9 / SK10 / SK11 / SK12 / SK13 / SK14 / SK15 / SK16 / SK17 / SK22 / SK23
We’ve got everything from Art & Gifts to Yoga
We might not have found a psychic from Poynton or a dominatrix from Davenport just yet, but we’ve pretty much got you covered for all other products and services you might need across Cheshire and Greater Manchester. Just take a look at this little lot…
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Photo of the day
Wembley Stadium, London
Is this the greatest ever save from a County keeper? Younger supporters will definitely say so. A few County dads might mention the name of Paul Jones, with a few County grandads bringing Alan Ogley into the mix, but one thing I’m sure we all agree on is that it’s fantastic news to see Ben Hinchliffe at Edgeley Park for another year. A play-off final winning penalty save against Wrexham please Ben, then we’ll let you retire.