“We lost the first leg 3-0, and after missing out on automatic promotion by one point, that was the day I knew we wouldn’t be at that level again for a number of years”
Walsall have been on a downward spiral ever since losing in the League One play-offs in 2015-16, as Roberto Petrucco explains, but the current crop of Saddlers are just three points off the top seven
Friday 12 January 2024
NEXT HOME GAME: Walsall – Saturday 13 January, 3pm
NEXT AWAY GAME: Notts County – Saturday 20 January, 3pm
NOTTS COUNTY COACHES:
Bredbury Con Club: FULL
Crofter: FULL
Fingerpost: FULL
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Dear County fans, Stopfordians, and any Walsall supporters joining us today, a very warm welcome to your Friday edition of The Scarf My Father Wore.
Walsall haven’t been anywhere near the play-offs since their last appearance in 2015-16, when they lost 6-1 to Barnsley on aggregate. They were relegated to League Two three years later, and have spent the last four seasons at this level, finishing 12th, 19th, 16th and 16th. The Saddlers didn’t look like they’d be extending their season this time around, but five wins from their last six – including Notts County, Crewe and Wrexham – has taken them to within three points of the top seven. This is yet another bloody tricky assignment for County tomorrow. Ahead of the game, we’ve had a cracking chat with Roberto Petrucco (his mum’s from Walsall, his dad’s from Birmingham, but his grandparents were born in Italy before moving over here!) from the Yellow Ribbon Podcast.
Today’s edition is sponsored by Greenshoots Yoga. As always, a big thank you to Claire, who runs yoga and mindfulness sessions for children, young adults and families. Most County kids are brought up on a Saturday afternoon can of Coke and a packet of crisps on Castle Street, which there’s nothing wrong with at all, but yoga is probably a little more conducive to their development. If you’ve got your own little County nippers, it’s definitely worth giving Claire a call to see what it’s all about. You never know, get them into yoga from a young age and they could be banging in the goals for County when they’re older!
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
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You’ve won five of your last six league games, the most recent being a 6-1 win at Grimsby on New Year’s Day. Is this the start of a play-off push?
January is key for us. I can’t remember the last time we had a good January, let alone a great one. If we recruit well, strengthen the areas that are currently lacking, and have some of the injured players come back and perform, then who knows.
It’s such a tight league, and we must continue to win games when we are on top. I think the most satisfying thing about the Grimsby game is that we didn’t play well for most of the first half. If we can stay in matches when we play badly, then we always stand a chance.
I’d like to think we can continue the run and make a play-off push, but a couple of bad results and the way League Two is we could slip away.
How annoyed do you get if someone says you’re a Birmingham club?
That doesn’t bother me too much actually. What does really bug me is northerners calling us southerners, and southerners calling us northerners. We literally live in a place called the Midlands. I could go on quite the rant, but I’m sure County fans wouldn’t call us southerners… hopefully.
As a southern club… just kidding. As a Midlands club, do you suffer from having Wolves, West Brom, Birmingham and Villa on your doorstep, in the same way County have United and Citeh just up the road.
This is actually a trickier question than it first seems. The obvious answer is yes. If we were more successful than these teams then I think more people in the area would come to us. I went to school on the Walsall/Birmingham border, and a lot of kids were Villa or Birmingham fans, and always saw us as their second team. I feel the club should do more on international weekend when you have Wolves, Baggies, Villa and Blues all not playing. That’s 100,000 fans who don’t have football that weekend.
Walsall have always been the smaller sibling of the Midlands football scene, and that’s probably because of the competition, but we’re also the team that don’t have the history as high up as the others.
I actually think one of the issues is a bigger thing in football, where kids can easily follow the Premier League, and would rather watch that on TV than go to a Football League game.
What’s it like having a stadium so close to the M6?
I don’t mind it. I’m a bit of a nerd who will always try and spot stadiums when driving around the country, so having ours there so visible every time I drive past is always nice. I think it also puts us very slightly on the map. Every so often we get the tweet doing the rounds of a picture of the ground with someone saying: “Is it even an away day if you haven’t driven past here?”
Is it true that Noddy Holder is the voice of the lifts at Walsall Art Gallery? If so, are you proud of this?
I actually used to work in the Costa at Walsall Art Gallery, but only ever used the stairs. So I cannot confirm this I’m afraid.
Several episodes of Dickinson’s Real Deal have been filmed in Walsall? What’s your most valuable piece of Saddlers memorabilia?
I’m not one to collect much memorabilia. I have a few mugs, coasters and shirts, but the thing I like the most is a scarf from our one and only trip to Wembley. And before you all judge, it’s not a half and half scarf. They should be banned.
What are your best and worst memories supporting the Saddlers?
The best was seeing us walk out at Wembley for the Johnstone’s Paint Trophy final in 2015. It was the first time we had been to Wembley, and it was just the build-up to the day, the day itself and actually experiencing our club being there. The result wasn’t what we wanted, but we played an in-form Bristol City side who hadn’t lost a game for several weeks.
Obviously relegation to League Two was painful, but I would potentially say the League One play-off semi-final against Barnsley in 2015-16. We lost the first leg 3-0, and after missing out on automatic promotion by one point, that was the day I knew we wouldn’t be at that level again for a number of years. It had been a long season, Dean Smith had got us firing, then left, before we dipped, went through a couple of managers, and then completely bottled the play-offs.
After that we had a mass exodus, and so began the sleepwalk to where we are now.
Along with County, Port Vale, Lincoln and Crewe, are you proud or ashamed of being in the top five Football League clubs who have played the most Football League seasons without playing in the top flight?
What a brilliantly depressing statistic. It’s about as depressing as being the team that were on the longest run of finishing each season in a lower place than the season before, that lasted about six years.
As a big lower league fan, I don’t actually want us to ever reach the dizzy heights of the Premier League. I would take just getting out of League Two… for now.
What’s your thoughts on Stockport County – A) the club B) the manager C) the fans?
Walsall v County was my first ever game, so I have always liked you as a club, especially as we won that day.
I like family clubs that are a big part of their community. I do wonder how much you are spending, and hopefully it won’t come back to bite you, because the money spent to get back into the EFL was eyewatering.
I have no issues with Dave Challinor. We actually interviewed Kevin Wilson on our podcast, who is Challinor’s agent, and he spoke very highly about him.
You have some very good players that a lot of League Two teams would be envious of. I have always been a fan of Ibou Touray; Nick Powell is also a very good player for this level. You always have an abundance of attacking options that will keep any defence on their toes.
It all got a bit heated after the FA Cup game between us last season, but I would say you are generally similar to our fans. Loyal, committed, passionate, and will turn up in numbers through thick and thin, and for me, that isn’t something that can ever be a negative about another fanbase.
Give us a brief history of your podcast.
We’re actually a relatively young podcast. Myself and my co-host Harley had been doing videos on YouTube for a few months, just generally chatting nonsense about Walsall, and had always said we’d like to make a podcast. We were then approached by Matt about making it a podcast, which gave us the impetus to do what we had spoken about for a while.
Matt and his wife Zoe do so much of the legwork in terms of getting us guests and building a relationship with the club. They own and run Brellis Recruitment, who sponsor the podcast, and we really wouldn’t be where we are without their backing and support.
What’s the fan culture like at Walsall?
Walsall fans are loyal, loud, vocal, passionate, and have stuck by the club when there really hasn’t been anything to cheer about for many years.
We’ve had some great attendances this season, both home and away, and I think the best way to sum it up was a video we shared after the Southampton game. Nearly 20,000 Saints fans, but all you could hear was the 2,300 Walsall fans… and that was taken from the press box, not in the stands.
What’s your prediction for Saturday’s game?
We’re in form, but we’re looking a bit light on squad depth at the moment with injuries. Mat Sadler can sometimes tell a white lie about player availability, but our FA Cup game against Southampton last weekend showed the real lack of available players when we couldn’t fill the bench, and had a 17-year-old academy player on there too.
We do better against teams that try and keep the ball on the floor and play, rather than lump it long. We come into this in better form than yourselves, but an away day against a team chasing promotion will be tough. I would take a draw.
And finally… what’s it like living in the Polish capital?
Long commute to away days… cheap vodka. (My fantasy football team name is actually Warsaw FC!)
5 questions with Claire Ash from Greenshoots Yoga
What’s been your favourite moment with the business in 2023?
Teaching yoga to a mother and son as part of their support programme in order to help them reconnect after a rather traumatic time. Another high has been teaching a yoga session to an academy youth team at a local high profile football club.
What’s your plans for the business in 2024?
Further my training in helping children, teens and their families with their mental health, by empowering them with yoga, breathwork and mindset activities.
What was the best present you received on Christmas Day?
Putting dates with my friends on my calendar.
Do you have any New Year’s resolutions going into 2024?
To factor at least five minutes of reflection or meditation into my day. Also to laugh more at life's antics and stress less.
What would you like to promote to our readers in January?
I’d like to promote my Teen Wellness Workshop on 3 February in Heaton Mersey with drama teacher Ainsley Howard. Please see my Facebook page and website for further information.
If you’d like further information on Claire’s yoga sessions, give her a call on 07940 914579 or email claire@greenshootsyoga.co.uk.
Photo of the day
Edgeley Park, Stockport
Yellow Block celebrates Paddy Madden’s 88th minute equaliser on Walsall’s last visit to Edgeley Park back in January 2023, in the FA Cup.
Today in SK
🎶 DJs
Bask (SK1) have recently been granted an extended license, which means you can now party until 3am on a Friday night! Last entry 1.30am.
The Nelson Tavern (SK1) have their resident DJ playing on a Friday night, with Dicko (Ian Dickinson) on from 8pm till 1am.
🍟 Food and drink
Whether you like it hot or cold, head down to Coffee Block (SK1) to get your matcha fix. 8am - 5.30pm.
10% off all drinks at Enigma (SK1). 12pm - 12am.
Ignore the “beer police” and support your local pub in January. If you’re in Stockport today, pop into The Petersgate Tap (SK1) for a drink or two. 12pm - 11pm.
Lite bite meal deal at The Friary (SK3). Cod or haddock, served with chips, and a side of peas, curry or gravy. Plus tea or coffee. £9.95. 11.30am - 8pm.
Fish Friday at Platform 5 (SK8). Joseph Holt’s beer battered fish with chips, salt and vinegar scraps, tartare sauce and your choice of Manchester caviar and peas. Served with a drink. 12pm - 8pm. £14.95 per person.
Treat yourself to lunch at Mediterranean Cafe & Bar (SK23). A full range of mains, salads, jacket potatoes, paninis, baguettes and wraps.
🎤 Karaoke
Alexandra (SK3) with DJ Big Ace. 8pm.
🎸 Live music
Blind Tiger at The Crown Inn (SK6). Classic rock, pop and indie covers. 9pm.
Friday Fiesta at TRUNK (SK7). Great company, tasty tapas and flowing drinks – what more could you want? Call 0161 222 9260 to book a table, and mention “The Scarf My Father Wore” to receive a 15% discount off the normal tapas menu.
Random County fan of the day #12 – Keith Mills!
One final thing before you go… if you’re looking to learn to drive in January, or lose a few pounds after Christmas, or even get some work done at home, please contact our fantastic advertisers!
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