All Things Stockport County

It is some years since I first made contact with Help the Hatters. The group was well into its wholesale reconstruction of County's training facility at Manor Farm. ....truly and astonishingly turning a farm into a training facility really. It was inspiring stuff to see supporters weighing in with jobs they would likely run a country mile away from doing on the home front.  Skilled craftsmen donated skills willingly and for free, and those with little in the way of skills to offer did what they could.  Help the Hatters knew long before Tesco that `every little helps!' Fitzy eyed me up warily before assigning me to mowing the grass- thus limiting any potential hazards.  In truth   my contributions over the coming weeks/months were minimal, but it was instructional to see the most excellent training facility emerge eventually where once stood a dilapidated farm house ! Little has changed over the years......the...

  What's your close season been like so far? Mine has been routinely boring, until yesterday....and a very startling incident indeed! It was a disconcerting moment for sure........ I just did not expect the blinding flash of light....or the sight that ensued thereafter as a large metallic object landed, bang smack in the centre of my back garden- an ill kempt patch of urban greenery. The unease that had descended upon me continued unabated, as from said object someone....or something emerged into the dank Stopfordian air. Eyeing me impassively, the visitor spoke... " Take Me To Your Leader!" I must confess that, despite my utter confusion and near panic, I was somewhat disappointed with that opening gambit, but I had no time at all to ponder further when the question was repeated with added emphasis! " Take Me To Your Leader........Mr McKnight!" My panic stricken state worked absolute wonders in successf...

Virtually 21 years ago to the day I was some distance from SK3 to put it mildly. The 1995/96 season was memorable for a couple of reasons. The ‘new’ Cheadle End was opened and you may also remember a couple of games against Everton in the 3 rd round of the FA Cup. Much of this was to pale into insignificance the season after but I take you back to my placement at the end of April 1996: Zimbabwe is the country of my birth although it was Southern Rhodesia at the moment that I first sniffed the African air. My stay was all too brief and by my 4 th birthday I was back in the historical parental town of Stockport . My father remained in Rhodesia although it was to be another three decades before I returned in 1995 and repeated the trip the following year. Adrian on safari....and Safari Game Scout. During the period just before 1995 I had noted that a young Zimbabwean man had written to Stockport County asking for pen pals, pictures and general swapping of photos ...

Stockport County’s gallant bid to gain promotion to the Vanarama National, fell at the very last hurdle today, when the blues could only manage a 1-1 draw against a doughty , hard working Gloucester City side. County knew they needed a win, but even with Chorley losing they fell just one point short of their goal. County took the lead shortly after the hour, via a Danny Lloyd penalty, but one goal was just never going to be enough against a visiting side that, having scored a considerable psychological advantage by making County kick towards the Cheadle End first off, then preceded to play as though they meant it. They earned a card or three in the process, and some of their defending was a touch basic, but they did enough up front to ensure County’s minds were on not conceding as much as scoring, and in that last department again…Lloyd apart, no one in blue really showed up with the necessary bite to square the circle for County. Lloyd + shadow ( Andrew Machin ) ...