The Scarf Me Father Wore: Edgeley Park, Stockport County

Words: Han Balk

Images: Han Balk

Telling your friends and family you are crossing the North Sea for a football weekend in Manchester and the “big two” are on everyones’ lips.

Yet there’s a lot more to football in the region than City and United and a fair few clubs have real good grounds.

One of them is Stockport County’s Edgeley Park ,which hosted last weekend’s League Two match vs Mansfield Town.

©Han Balk/ Terrace Edition. Stockport County FC.

Stockport is less than 10 minutes by rail from Manchester Piccadilly but with trains offline due to industrial action, for two pounds, the 192 bus brings you down the A6 and after 30+ stops you are just half a mile from the ground.

The best way to approach the ground is from the north via Mercian Way where Arnold or Caroline Street provide a proper view to the rear of the 1936 Danny Bergera main stand with the famous letters: Stockport County AFC.

Meanwhile, the low flying planes will remind you every few minutes that Manchester Airport is only five miles away.

Edgeley Park is older though, it has been the home to Stockport County since 1903.

The 1995, two-tiered Cheadle End is a beast of a stand. It’s 5000 capacity is nearly half of the total ground capacity. The family stand is not bad either, while the Railway End, an uncovered terrace hosts the away supporters from Nottinghamshire.

Four different stands, strong support from both sides and a very late equalizer by the guests really made our afternoon.

On the bus back to Manchester, watching Go Ahead Eagles scoring the winning goal in the dying seconds away at FC Utrecht made it even better for this Eagle on a jolly.

You can find Han on Twitter and Instagram: @hanbalk.

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Derby of the east

Fear no giants

Boxing Day beauty

It had to be done