The Sunday League team from Stockport who beat Bayern Munich!

50 years on from their first ever game, Des Hinks Senior has written a book chronicling the adventures of Carnforth – the Sunday League side from Stockport who took on some of Europe’s biggest clubs

Feb 05, 2025

Wednesday 5 February 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.

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

Back in November, before it went to print, I shared an extract from We Are Carny, the new book written by my dad which chronicles the 50-year story of Carnforth - the Sunday League side from Stockport who visited 16 different countries and played 48 games against some of Europe’s biggest clubs, including Barcelona, Bayern Munich, Juventus, Benfica, Feyenoord and Glasgow Celtic. (Click here to read the piece.)

The book has now been published, and today we’ve got another exclusive extract for you to enjoy. Once again, we’re going back to 1990, looking at the second part of Carny’s summer tour, with the lads heading to Germany in high spirits having just beaten Southampton. If you’d like a copy of the book, please drop me a message.

Today’s edition is sponsored by Bridge Computer Services and Beespoke Cleaning. A big thank you to Mark and Vicky.

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: 192.73 miles

Total steps so far: 311,804

Total raised so far: £2,270

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

The Carny tour party visit the Olympic Stadium, then home of Bayern Munich

After a decent breakfast the following morning, it was back onto the mini buses for the journey to Gatwick, allowing, en-route, enough time for a liquid lunch in Crawley!

One player who wasn’t on the bus was Jon Pacey. The big goalkeeper had driven down to Southampton on the day of the game, stayed overnight with us, and then drove home to play for Bramhall in the Stockport Senior Cup final at Edgeley Park later that evening. He would re-join the Carny squad the following day after flying to Munich from Manchester.

On arrival at Munich Airport, Dave Kerr approached me to say, “the bloke over there is from Bayern Munich, he wants to speak to you.” Like I’m going to fall for that, Dave, and walk over and ask a random bloke if he’s from Bayern Munich!

Dave was adamant, though, so I eventually relented and went over. The guy really was from Bayern and he’d turned up, unannounced, to pick us up in their team bus and take us to our hotel in the city!

Not only that, he gave us exclusive use of the coach – and an interpreter – for the next two days to take us wherever we wanted to go!

He also asked if they could help us in any other way. Mark ‘Butch’ Corlett had picked up an injury against Southampton. Not a problem, they arranged for him to see their physio the following day!

They also took our dirty kit from the Saints game to their laundry. When it was returned to us in the dressing room before the game, it was washed, ironed and the shirts came out of the bag in numerical order!

Carny skipper Dave Kerr leads the lads out at Bayern Munich's superb training complex

Played at Bayern’s magnificent training complex, the big game kicked off at 6.30pm and, after withstanding pressure in the opening ten minutes, Carny won a corner. Dunc Palmer floated it in, Mark Rahman flicked it onto Rick Griffiths who found Stuart Owen, who made it 1-0.

Within minutes of the restart, a defence splitting pass from Rob Mullin found Rahman, who raced clear to make it 2-0.

Man-of-the-match Rahman added another, with substitute Carl Massa coming off the bench and scoring twice, to add to his winning goal at Southampton.

At times, Bayern peppered the Carny goal, but a combination of the brilliant Jon Pacey in nets, aided at times by the woodwork, restricted them to just two goals as the Stockport lads ran out 5-2 winners.

It was a proud moment when Bertie Vogts, a World Cup and Euros winner with West Germany as both a player, and manager, came into the dressing room after the game to congratulate us on our performance. He couldn’t believe we were all amateurs!

Another highlight when we made our way to the dressing rooms, was to see Butch on a balcony clapping and cheering us off the pitch. For someone clearly disappointed that he didn’t play - despite the best efforts by the Bayern physio, to get him fit - it showed a tremendous attitude, or so I thought!

He’d gone into their bar for a pre-match pint, to be told that it was all free for us. So, several litres of German beer later, his mood of disappointment had changed to one of euphoria!

When we joined him, our hosts had put on a meal of soup, followed by steak and chips, and as much beer as you could drink!

Back on the coach, Bayern had restocked the large onboard fridge with beer and wine – we’d drunk it dry the previous day – so the 30-minute drive back to the city was spent drinking, singing and dancing!

May 18, 1990 – Bayern Munich 2 Carny 5. A day that will never be forgotten by everyone lucky enough to have been there. The celebrations went on long into the night!

A final word on Bayern Munich. On the Saturday morning, their team coach turned up at our hotel to take us to the airport. Different class, what a club!

➡️ We Are Carny, written by Des Hinks Senior, is out now. The book’s priced at £10. If you’d like a copy, please email thescarfmyfatherwore@substack.com.

6 reasons why you should update to Windows 11

Whether or not you should update to Windows 11 depends on various factors, including your current setup, your specific needs, and your willingness to adapt to changes. However, Windows 10 is reaching end-of-life in October 2025. Today, Mark from Romiley-based Bridge Computer Services shares six key points to consider when deciding whether to update to Windows 11.

1) MODERN INTERFACE AND DESIGN

Windows 11 offers a refreshed user interface with a centred Start menu, updated icons, and a more modern look.

2) IMPROVED PERFORMANCE AND EFFICIENCY

Enhanced performance optimisations, including better handling of system resources and improved battery life for laptops.

3) ENHANCED GAMING FEATURES

Windows 11 includes DirectStorage, Auto HDR, and better integration with Xbox Game Pass, making it more appealing to gamers.

4) VIRTUAL DESKTOPS AND MULTITASKING

Improved support for virtual desktops and new multitasking features like Snap Layouts and Snap Groups.

5) BETTER SUPPORT FOR TOUCH AND PEN INPUTS

Enhanced experience for devices with touchscreens and stylus support.

6) SECURITY ENHANCEMENTS

Improved security features, including hardware-based security like TPM 2.0 and Secure Boot requirements.

➡️ For further details, or any other IT queries you might have, give Mark a call on 0161 408 3201 or email info@bridgecomputerservices.co.uk.

Beespoke Cleaning can provide a weekly, fortnightly or monthly service for you

Look how spotless this place is. I’m not saying your place isn’t, but it would be nice to get a bit of help with the cleaning, wouldn’t it? Especially for County fans, as they spend a lot of time away from home. There’s still some long trips to Cambridge, Exeter and Wycombe coming up this season. Wouldn’t it be nice to get back to Stockport from your travels and find your home in immaculate condition.

Beespoke Cleaning can do exactly that for you, whether you’d like their services once a week, once a fortnight or even once a month. The business has been operating since 2010, with a long list of satisfied regular customers, as cleaning projects are completed in a timely manner and with the highest level of quality.

➡️ Visit beespokecleaning.com for further details.

Photo of the day

A pub in Blackpool

A fantastic array of County shirts on show in Blackpool before our 3-0 victory at the seaside back in August.

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.

Bitter £2.30 a pint all day at The Cross Keys (SK8).

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 Steelworks (SK6), The Three Tunnes (SK7) and The Ram’s Head (SK12). Support them this month by popping in for a few drinks and a bite to eat.