The king has had his coronation, now let’s have the Salford summation…
At the fourth attempt, the Ammies finally reached the League Two play-offs, but because of the man in the middle of our goal, the Class of 92 are facing a fifth season at this level
Friday 30 June 2023
NEXT HOME GAME: Huddersfield - Saturday 22 July, 3pm
NEXT AWAY GAME: Lincoln (in Spain!) - Friday 7 July, 4pm (Click here for our away day guide)
Dear County fans, Stopfordians, and any Salford supporters joining us today, a very warm welcome to your Friday edition of The Scarf My Father Wore.
With four promotions in five seasons, the investment from Gary Neville and Co was certainly working at Salford. But their upward trajectory has stalled since reaching the Football League. After finishing 11th, 8th and 10th, the Ammies did reach the play-offs this season, but despite winning the first leg, County fought back on a memorable afternoon at Edgeley Park to deny them a trip to Wembley and a crack at League One. Today we’re joined by dannyboy from the Salford City Fans Forum to reflect on 2022-23 in M7.
I’d like to say a big thank you to Paul and all the team at Colourtone for sponsoring today’s edition. See below for further details on what they have to offer.
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 always take a protein bar on matchdays so I can’t really comment on the offerings at away grounds.
Charles is now king of the UK. But who would you choose to be crowned king of Moor Lane, 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.
King would have to be Elliot Watt, with Ryan Leak in the tower.
Best moment of 2022-23?
I’m going to opt for the 1-1 draw at Barrow, as despite the result I felt the attacking performance was thrilling.
Worst moment of 2022-23?
The 2-0 defeat at home to County in October. It was the second home game in a row where we looked totally out of sorts and looked to have no clue how to make improvements.
Funniest moment of 2022-23?
Probably something Gav and Rousey said during a recording of Dirty Old Podcast.
Four Four Two said you’d finish 6th. When Saturday Comes said you’d finish 8th. You finished 7th. Discuss.
Long streaks of poor performances meant we deserved no better than the lottery of the play-offs. Our ceiling is higher than virtually any other team in the league, but our performance floor is horrendous. We need to become more consistent across the season.
Salford 0 County 2 in October. County 1 Salford 1 in March. And then the two play-off games obviously. Thoughts?
As much as it pains me to say, I felt Salford looked second best in both league games against County. I’ve already mentioned the loss at home but I credit County’s coaching team with being the first to successfully deal with our pacy wingers after we’d been ripping teams apart out wide in the weeks before. Not much to say about the play-off games. I felt Salford had run out of ideas by the end of the season and became a fairly predictable team to play against.
Best and worst away days of 2022-23?
I don’t get to many away games but from what I saw of the highlights, the best away day looked like it was the 5-2 win at Mansfield.
The worst away game I went to was the 5-1 trouncing at Bolton in the League Cup; the worst individual performance I have ever seen from any player was that day, given by Ryan Leak.
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 Salford fans throughout the 2022-23 season. In that famous voice of his, how would he describe them?
“Now here we find a rare example of the lesser spotted Salford City fan. They normally operate in dead silence and don’t like to congregate in large groupings.”
Click on the links below to read the previous 2022-23 reviews we’ve published so far.
Barrow / Bradford / Carlisle / Colchester / Crawley / Crewe / Gillingham / Grimsby / Harrogate / Hartlepool / Leyton Orient / Mansfield / Newport / Northampton / Rochdale / Stevenage / Sutton / Swindon / Tranmere / Walsall / Wimbledon
Give your car a lick of paint
Granted, Stockport used to be a little rough around the edges. But the town’s getting a good old lick of paint these days, with fancy new offices, apartments, bars and restaurants springing up. You can’t be driving up and down the A6 in a tatty car with chipped paintwork, so give your car a nice lick of paint too. Colourtone is your go-to company for that. They’ve been servicing the automotive and industrial markets in Cheshire and Greater Manchester for decades, and carry an extensive range of car paint and industrial paints.
Visit colourtone.com for further details.
Today in SK
🥗 Food and drink 🥗
Friday Fiesta at TRUNK (SK7). Live music starting at 7.30pm. Great company, tasty tapas and flowing drinks – what more could you want? Book online or call 0161 222 9260.
🎸 Live music 🎸
The Indie Pendants at The Dog & Partridge (SK2). 8pm.
🎶 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
Photo of the day
Bask, Stockport
This is pretty cool, innit? This Is England star Thomas Turgoose on the decks at Bask last night.
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…
Art & Gifts - Bags - Builder - Butcher - Car Valeting - Carpets & Flooring - Chartered Accountants - Cleaning - Coach Hire - Coatings - Dog Walking - Financial Services - Fire Protection - Football Prints - Glazier - Internet Installation - IT Services - Kitchen Appliances - Locksmith - Mobile Car Repairs - Osteopath - Painter & Decorator - Party & Event Services - Personal Trainer - Physiotherapist - Plasterer - Plumber - Recruitment - Removals - Security Equipment - Shoe Repairs - Solicitors - Sports Coaching - Timber Supplies - Tutor - Vintage Clothing - Workwear - Yoga
On a serious note, our sponsors help us to keep The Scarf My Father Wore completely free of charge for everyone (rather than paying for a subscription, like most Substack websites) so if you do enjoy our daily offerings, please support them whenever you can. Make a mental note to yourself that whenever you need a cleaner, or a plumber, or a solicitor (or if you are looking for a dominatrix, send me a private message as I know a cracking lady in Heaton Moor…), check out our own directory before you head over to Google or Yell.com. Loads of the businesses we work with are County fans, and we’ve often got great offers for our readers as well.
Click here to have a look at all the businesses in our directory.