Football Poets

You didn’t play football
On the grass of Strawberry Fields
You didn’t wear a red or blue scarf
Well, maybe a red one once,
You didn’t strain your neck trying to watch
The game from the Kop at Anfield or
T […]

Endangered species
Not now in the Etihad
Erling’s on the prowl.

oh dear another four years on
and just like Russia and South Africa
the question arises again
Qatar – will we watch or not
and equally will we write poems about it ?
the football that is

yeah it’s […]

Oh for those sweet Belgium buns
That once preceded
Vintage claret and blue
Suppers in the hallowed
Halls of Upton Park
Where Anderlecht met
West Ham in the fondly
Remembered days of the Euro
Cup Winners […]

The most magnificent banner
Unfurled beneath those Roman skies
Joey Jones, European Cup Final, 1977
This was before Dalglish pivoted into our hearts
This was before the internet dealt away all secrets […]

It’s the Premier League again
After a fortnight in cold storage
Weary and frayed around the edges
But still in the rudest health
Doctors give it the all clear
Put the stethoscope away
All is […]

Graham Taylor rolls in his Vicarage grave
As he hears how Watford sinned.
Elton puts his head in hands
And sings Candle in the Wind.

The International football break
They now call the Watford Gap
The […]

Germany again

It was always Germany
Following us, haunting us
Either our nemesis or
Just bold, visible,
In front of us, stalking
Our corridors
A pain, impediment,
Just a confounded nuisance
If it […]

Was Banks as good as Jennings?
Was Ball as good as Bell?
Was Ray Clemence as good as Shilton?
Was Matt or Channon the King of the Dell?
Was Greavsie better than Denis Law?
Was Osgood better than […]

England relegated from the UEFA
Nations League,
Oh what stuff and nonsense
An utterly preposterous notion
Idiotic gibberish and drivel
But beaten in the San Siro
That legendary bastion of
Neapolitan […]

‘Who’s the greatest ever player
to have worn the sky blue ? ‘
that’s a really tough question
as I can name quite a few.
But,if I have to say just one
who is better than the rest,
as he oozed class and […]

Not quite the apocalypse
But seven games into the season
And claret and blue
Bubbles are bursting in
Pastel shades of profusion
Gloom and doom
Merchants are growing
Moodily cynical
In East End […]

The modern manager with vicuna and veneers
Laser vision 20/20 style
Monster mentality gegen pressing guile
But recognises
That this community
Is still all for one and one for all
Whether Homebaked […]

It’s time to spare a thought
For the good, old fashioned
Cross bars and posts
Of all our present, past
And future
Football’s striking reference
Points, match after match
There through the vagaries
Of all […]

Coley is old school
No vicuna black polo neck jumpers
Or a new set of gleaming Hollywood teeth
Philosophy is simple: ball to feet
Keep it simple
No frills or soundbites
Not likely seen around Accrington […]

Amid the sorrow and grief
Of the loss felt
By the multitudes
Around the world
Her Majesty the Queen
Passes into the chapters
Of history
Now resting in peace
But leaving love and
Adoration and […]

I’ve been a West Ham supporter since I was 8 years old,
First time on the terrace was in the freezing cold.
My uncle always took me there when I was just a lad,
I couldn’t get enough of it and soon was foo […]