Football Poets

Placed in the constellation Perseus,
he angles a tethered, synthetic planet
into the goal before an end of season cast
of sombrero-wearing fans: Daggers to the last.

Late witnesses observe a curious phenomenon
of […]

Lost, my ball in the crossflow winds.
Collapse the tactics board
now there’s only Route One.
Let’s see where it falls.

Hope the van won’t topple outside
old Brentford dock, buffered
by all those tower blocks
we […]

rarely rose from their seats,
at scythings of stars didn’t flinch.
Impassive, ever-present for mid week
coach journeys to the Yorkshire coast,
losses at Scarborough and Grimsby,
reflections dark models of […]

No one was there
for The Great Unveiling

The stadium was empty
save for the men
from The Eastern Daily

as X raised a scarf
to say that when Y phoned

there was no hesitation,
that he loved the fens,
the broads, […]

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.