Football Poets

The day the leaflets came, election sludge
we slip into like a soft play ball park,
they promised us all a new start.

The current incumbent wouldn’t smile,
just said ‘It’s strange how all these missi […]

Oh woe, what torture,
What agony and purgatory
Why do we keep doing it
To ourselves?
Seconds away from the
Departure gate of
Euro2024 and suddenly
Jude did indeed
Take a sad song
And improve it
Most […]

when England take on Switzerland
who cares if we still have no plan
there are no dreaded warning signs
we’ve played them twenty seven times
how could we ever be undone
we haven’t lost since ‘81
a well- […]

exhausted watching you again
all through the years in sun and rain
from giant screens to my front room
with no-one else to share the gloom
the hope that never disappears
the sheer frustration and the tears […]

So here we are England
The day before the
Morning mists welcome
The vicars and bicycles who
Trundle down long forgotten
Country lanes
The post man and woman
Cheerily whistle that
Inevitable victory
For […]

Football is a part of life
The part of human life
There is not only football for itself

There is blindness of Croatian
fanatics who wanted Modric out
because of his age

The people are aging as well
The […]

Thank goodness for that
Unbearably slow
90 minutes of slow motion
England reduced to walking pace
Just strolling along the prom
Tedious as the Test Card
If only they’d finished
That last game of […]

ev’ry two or four years
we miraculously find ourselves here
in that oh so ‘English’ recurring semi-hopeful way
subjected to watching England at tournaments
usually on a screen

sometimes it feels like […]

Scots dream over now

Tartan fire is not enough

finishing is all

They’ll always have their Hogmany
Auld Lang Syne
Amid the rousing skirl of
Heart warming bagpipes
But Scotland are on their
Way back home
The fading odours of
Whisky and a wee dram
Consolation none at […]

It was pure coincidence that we were in Manchester
When news of the disaster broke. We’d gone by train

Me and Mum from Hyde Central

Our tickets bought from the Polish man
Who sat behind glass in a […]

We used to sing that Charlton (Bobby) was better than Pele.

We knew he wasn’t, objectively, but we hoped the song
Would inspire him to play better. Also, it was a measure
Of our faith. In the team, in our […]

Oh, England,
So wretched, awful
Lifeless, listless
Lackadaisical, punch drunk
Sloppy and slovenly
A throwback to the
Bad, old days
Of World Cup 1986,
When dear Ray Wilkins
Once threw his toys
Out of his […]

a poet can’t find words sometimes
the words refuse to flow
like writer’s block where chances
no longer come or go
what is it with our country
are we surprised to see
so many fans to help us on
it sure ain […]

40 years ago
I saw Euro
Patience
Platini
Patience
Platini

Arconada
unlucky

Denmark classy
Preben Larsen Master

Portugal with Shalana

Beatiful France
The glorious Parc des Princes

Yugoslavia […]

Sheer Turkish delight
With Georgia on our minds
A hat-trick of goals
Turkey devour
Early Christmas feast
In lively German markets

Portugal deservedly through
But only just
Ageless veteran
Ronaldo […]

In the Euros’ first week, the tension was tight,
No easy games, every team had to fight.
Portugal edged the Czech’s, just by a hair,
A 2-1 victory, nerves in the air.

Denmark and Slovenia, an ent […]