Football Poets

how did we manage how did we get by
how did we exist as fans you and I
how did we do it how did we survive
what did we do …before 5 live ?*

twenty five years ago right across the land
what was it […]

car or bus or coach or train
climbing up the hill again
in the howling wind and rain
ev’ry time the same
ev’ry single step you take
premonitions that you make
habits that you never break
going to the […]

so much talent taken
all the broken dreams
all the hopes you harbour
for your chosen team
from the very moment
you first kicked a ball
from the time you start to climb
longing for it all
so much promise […]

one Christmas in the trenches
they stood in mud and sand
their loved ones and their football
a distant far off land –
the snow lay thick as thick could be
a bitter chill did spread
behind the sand bags and t […]

still swapping shirts with Willie the Shake
taught us words can make the heart ache
showed us life is just a stage
where we run and strive and guage
this Peoples’ Game that carries on
until the day that we […]

eighteen years of verse
sixteen thousand five hundred
poems on football

I for one will miss

paper tickets for the match

when they scan my eyes

I recall that Saturday like yesterday
a steaming summer
our first home game in ‘58
excitement
and childlike expectation in the air
August in London and sweltering
“stand clear of the doors!” “wear […]

everything I ever did
couldn’t keep emotions hid
back when I was just a kid
ev’ry time we’d play
captured by a moving ball
from the time when I was small
have I really changed at all ?
waiting for the day […]

brand new season same old same old
blank green canvas big clean slate
new beginnings better endings
grab the handrail take the bait

brand new season same old same old
keep on longing live the dream
keep on […]

France 4-2 Croatia

spoiling things again
VAR the villain here
on this final night

never lying down
oh how brave Croatia fought
when injustice reigned

never at their best
once again Les Bleus […]