Bullied teen Liam Connor is effectively on suicide watch, with his mum Maria worrying whenever he’s out of her sight. In order to take Liam’s mind off his troubles, Gary Windass suggests asking Kirk Sutherland to come round and play FIFA with him. In the Corrieverse, playing the football sim as Weatherfield County is surely an option. But Steve McDonald is unlikely to ever select that option, following the revelation that his favourite team’s best-ever player, Tommy Orpington, is having an affair with his wife Tracy. As a reaction to the devastating news, Steve is throwing out all his old County memorabilia. He says he can no longer support the team. It’s a situation many England fans will be able to relate to, harking back to the dark days in 2016 when Sam Allardyce was put in charge of the national side. Mercifully, Allardyce’s tenure was very brief, but Tommy O is inextricably linked to the local team. Steve says he used to proudly sing County Till I Die, but now the club are dead to him. Ken Barlow points out that there are two big teams in Manchester, so he could switch his allegiance to one of them. Steve manfully attempts to sing Glory Glory Man United (which was written by a former member of Herman’s Hermits in 1983), but the words stick in his throat. Presumably, jumping aboard the glory hunter bandwagon and supporting financial juggernaut Manchester City is an idea too egregious to even contemplate.
Sarah Barlow presents her husband Adam with divorce papers. It isn’t ideal timing, because it coincides with the couple’s fourth wedding anniversary. Sarah shows him a photo of her feathery dress from the big day. She says her son Harry sometimes uses the dress for cosplaying as the DC Comics character Hawkgirl. At The Rovers, Steve tells Tim Metcalfe and Abi Webster about his abandonment of Weathy County. Tim observes that the higher you climb up the football ladder, the more the beautiful game is ‘besmirched by money’. As a former window cleaner, Tim knows a lot about ladders.
Coronation Street episode 11204/11205. Originally aired 4th March 2024.
