Football Poets

Early rays
form car-park shadows
for our pre-shift game.

The chiropractor
floats balls onto roof tiles,
lets them descend

for diagnosis.
You’re Sheringham, I’m Shilton
diving on windscreens.

When you […]

Instinct control on a pitch so waterlogged
we could have kayaked: well just forget it.

Who wouldn’t slide in where they shouldn’t,
emerging from a coal mine lagoon
every form of slate seems to blacken?

Make a […]

They had to name it Mudchute
so no fans would go there,
isolate the station like the Isle of Poplars.

Pitches where Millwall Rovers played
and council tenants co-exist

with a Docklands Museum in place of […]

Mid-winter mercury for a Croydon internationalist
is always high. Air miles could take him to Andromeda
before it reaches us. He could represent Earth
on credit from Alitalia. So if Wilshere smokes,
it means […]

‘Our new manager
looks like a bus driver.’

No uniform image arrives.
Bus drivers are so diverse though, Sid.
There are differences in nature,
temperament and manner
from London to Riga,
Kingston to […]

Sleeping in an allotment in North Sheen
Storm petrels and cormorants overhead
I think about the Balearics,
that Balearic beat,
the summer of love 1988
Ecstasy was riding a BMX as light faded,
kicking a ball […]

They hardly paved paradise
on the edge of Wigan.

There was no edenic innocence
to corrupt in Stoke
or wild, untouched Bolton groves.

There were no secret forests
or magic woods of South Reading;
that was a […]

Bering strait, Labrador,
an arctic wind towards
North Sea island pitches

Brora Rangers, aurora chances.
The time of day is unfixed
as the crescent moon and sun
together in the darkness
over Sutherland and […]

Norfolk Jim arrived home at 4am
concerned about the stewarding.
‘The club should have a look at this’
he commented, ‘it’s no good
loading seats onto season tickets,
it’s a recipe for carnage.’
A freight train had […]

I’ve been logged out of my own life
and can’t remember the combination
of words and numbers to get back in.

So thank you to the Brentford fan
who told the story of a city trader’s
ten years devoted to […]

Morning still
leaves on the line at Whitton-
all kick-offs delayed

What is this smoke,
this show of fire
glaring through another

misunderstanding of stewards?

Why the gothic font
skull and crossbones
tribute to Ray Warner?

‘He wore his slippers
and ate satsumas.’

Some of you […]

Shortly after he was relieved of his duties,
I arranged to meet Lawrie Sanchez in a restaurant
within reasonable distance of Leatherhead.
Having regaled us with his thoughts on an array
of subjects- including […]

Solstice sun, black stars
stud the sky with light and dance
Klose to eclipse

Sshh! Secret sun trap
in the garden. Pile them up
and light the fires

Breaking barriers,
no picture can capture us-
so take your snapshots.

Chile pepper Spain
Succeed, break barriers down-
some granules detained

In gambler’s gold and green,
Jesus watches over Melbourne

Reflecting every flag
in kaleidoscopic installations,
Jesus stands for selfies
with outstretched arms

co-opted by Millwall fans
as the benign swagger
of […]

This country’s old gold
is scattered now to mine
in books and fields
and hidden frescoes
unveiled from time to time.

This country’s old gold
is scattered and so fine
at Molineux or Balado Bridge,
in rural chu […]

Eroding logic
The boots are making me go.
Is this really me?

Three-striped Sambas
in the glass at Ward’s and White’s:
Gran will buy them.

Are they really me?
Eroding logic, my boots
are Dead-Shot Keen’s