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R.I.P. Cloughie

mark merriman

Thursday, September 23rd, 2004

1 Leave a comment on verse 1 0 Ole Big ‘ed is dead
the ( tabloid ) papers said;
a legend is no more.
One of the game’s greats gone for good;
it shocked us to the core.
Football fans rise as one
to salute you Brian Clough;
of your pearls of wisdom
I could never get enough.

2 Leave a comment on verse 2 0 You took the rams of Derby
to the top for several years;
brief sojourn at Leeds United
bound to end in tears.

3 Leave a comment on verse 3 0 Then on to Forest’s City Ground,
where you quickly made your mark,
turning a team of journeymen
into a unit on the park.

4 Leave a comment on verse 4 0 Remember Robertson’s jinking runs?
Shilton’s blinding saves?
Gemmill, Bowyer, Peter Withe –
they came at teams in waves.

5 Leave a comment on verse 5 0 Remember when the football world
was shocked by your behaviour?
Spending one million pounds
not on a team, but just one player?

6 Leave a comment on verse 6 0 Trevor Francis was the name,
a clever, cunning schemer;
got on that cross from Robertson
to nod it past the keeper.

7 Leave a comment on verse 7 0 Instead of celebrating
with players and fans alike
you bemoaned the team’s performance:
“Young man, take a hike!”

8 Leave a comment on verse 8 0 You discovered many a player
of the calibre of Keane,
but never managed England –
it just remained a dream.

9 Leave a comment on verse 9 0 You preached to players that football
should be played along the deck;
not smashed high into the sky
for fans to crane their neck.

10 Leave a comment on verse 10 0 Towards the end, the booze
had begun to take its toll;
Red-faced, tired, bleary-eyed,
you watched another goal.

11 Leave a comment on verse 11 0 The baggy sweatshirt grew more creased
just like your tired old face,
the team in free-fall down the league,
like you, just off the pace.

12 Leave a comment on verse 12 0 Forest’s fans are grieving now
as their gaffer rests in peace;
Flowers adorn the City Ground gates
written tributes, poems, wreaths.

13 Leave a comment on verse 13 0 The football world will never be
quite the same again.
We have lost a true icon.
one of football’s greatest men.

14 Leave a comment on verse 14 0 So R.I.P. Cloughie,
R.I.P. Big ‘ed, young man.
We may mourn your passing,
but we salute you, every fan.

© mark merriman 18 sept 2004

Notes

Genuine sadness for the death of a legend.

Source: http://footballpoets.org/poems/r-i-p-cloughie/