Football Poets

we watched it all upon that day
we watched it here again today
the eyes still burn in that same way
we choke and cry inside

and for the souls and families
still trapped in time and memories
the time the game […]

left home early just to make the game
all of the regulars have made it here the same
recognise ev’ry face but couldn’t place a name
in the Away End

place starts taking off in the kick around
Anfield’s a cauldron […]

“football is nothing”
as now and as then
lives taken homes shaken
why how and when?
passion turns to tragedy
no-one can pretend
and football
is nothing
again

fragile infrastructures
old stone walls
inept […]

there is a place where we can go
if ever we are feeling low
and should our favourites have been thrashed
or dreams of title hopes been dashed
at home away at work or play
you’re always there both night and day […]

it’s hard to pin-point how we solve
the burning need here to evolve
and so enlarge for all to see
this range of football poetry
when hands are tied like ships to shore
but long to offer so much more
and long to […]

the greatest goal I ever saw
was many many years before
when players toiled for twenty pounds
and played in crumbling ancient grounds
a world when all was black and white
the papers and TV at night
when we were […]

there’s a man in Mid-Wales who makes models
exquisite like stars we adore
in praise of the goal celebration
and the stuff that some do when they score

what brings out this moment of madness?
you can call it it a […]

Alpha-bet this won’t last long
Bring me sonnets or a song
Chants from fans in freezing stands
Dipping crowds acrosss the land
Each next letter makes us scream
Far more harder than we dream
Grasping thinking til […]

Now ‘Arry’s quite a bloke I know
John Lennon was the same
They both sang out with Mind Games
Ev’ry now and then

He reckons Sandra (‘Arry’s wife)*
Could score the ones ‘they’ miss
Can you just see the […]

back in them so called good old days
Jimmy Hill lifted that maximum wage
everybody threatened that the future looked bleak
players went from twenty to a hundred quid a week
Cloughie got Francis for under a […]

at last some space available
for parking at Old Trafford
you’ll be in pleasant company
a few bays from the “gaffer”

you may be dwarfed by Bentleys
and other common cars
but you’ll feel quite solubrious
among […]

though some proclaim the magic’s gone
and some will just bang on and on
about the odds so high and long
still grander dreams are born
upon this frost bound hill so steep
it’s village views for man and sheep […]

come let us rise and stand up tall
the moment now is here
on village lanes we hope as one
no place for doubt or fear
for we’re the new green on the block
up here among these hills
we battle in the Conference
but […]

for those who can recall his work
as Christmas time draws near
this joyous news we bring you all
that Basil is still here

for eight long years upon this site
he’s never aged at all
preserved in time like home […]

there’s a new Green on the block
up here among these hills
we dither in the Conference
but thrive on Cup tie thrills

and most will struggle with the name
to be completely honest
the magic name of Nottingham
so […]

in the words of Van

it’s not easy being Green

just one half would do!

the stands are all creaking and peeling
the pitch it lies crumpled and torn
but like hoarding fanatics
left up in the attics
they are finally being reborn

some players stand legless and headless
the nets are all […]

And so it’s beginning the rumours and plans
Retractable roofing extravagant stands
With hundreds of flats for the wealthier fans
Yes it’s all for the good of the game

There’ll be seventy thousand packed in our […]

you had to be there to believe it
they say that he’d written the script
but some in the stands had their head in the hands
they were downcast and silent tight-lipped

we were three down at half time at […]

born when we were verging on the eve of World War One
at fourteen he was working down the mine
and while so many years have passed since first he ventured South
Sam Bartram’s still a legend in his time –
in knee l […]