Football Poets

What does the game of football teach?
Smile when you win, and accept defeat.
You should not grumble, bleat, whinge or complain,
Cry “It’s not fair, let the match be replayed!”

Farage, Gove, Johnson and Stu […]

Who topped the League last autumn?
Who tops the tree today?
Which team sits proud atop the perch
This merry month of May?

Not Chelsea, Spurs or Arsenal,
Not Liverpool, Man U,
But some upstart Midland outfit, […]

Economics A-Level, pretty basic stuff:
When demand for goods is strong, prices soon go up.
If supply exceeds demand, or demand tails off,
Sure as night doth follow day, prices quickly drop.

Certain things we […]

If you earn your living selling blow-up Spitfires,
If you own a retail outlet or a pub,
And were counting on a football feelgood factor
To set your till a-ringing for a month,
Then most likely you’ll be feeling […]

What air shall I breathe?
No choice about that – air Genoese.
But what shall I speak – Italian or English?
Native or learned tongue? Confusing business.
Reading material – Shakespeare or Dante?
Fancy a tippl […]

We’re Rob Martinez’ Army,
Throughout the Land well-known.
Our Faith is granite, adamant,
About that make no bones.

A Football Club, no brand, are we,
Worldwide is our renown –
On bark of trees across the […]

Oh, Liverpool FC is a truly massive club –
They’ve won hundreds of League Titles,
And five European Cups.
But their season’s started badly,
There are rumblings on the Kop,
And there’s tension in the Boot […]

If you’re looking for some football merchandise,
I suggest you take a plane or train to Nice.
In Rue Defly there is a little shop –
With any luck you’ll find they have in stock
The scarf or shirt or hat you’r […]

Can you believe, we’ve gained our reprieve,
We’re not being cast down to Serie B?
We’re staying in A, for many a day,
Well, for one more bright Season at least.

Oh, what a relief, we’ve been spared the gri […]

Tell me, now tell me, what’s it to be,
Serie A or Serie B?
Will we stay up, or be flung headlong down?
Will we feel chuffed, or with despair groan?

Drop or Survival, Heaven or Hell?
Champagne corks p […]

We hadn’t tasted victory since freezing, frosty February.
We’d clocked up numerous defeats,
P’rhaps scraped a couple of draws.
But May, the merry month, at last, three welcome points has brought.
The funny […]

They’re racing like whippets, they’re running like hares,
Pray, what is the point of it all?
There’s twenty-two fellas in shirts, shorts and socks,
All frantically chasing a ball.

There’s three points to make […]

Why are they playing no matches today?
Why are the football grounds empty?
All action’s called off as a mark of respect
For a player died aged five and twenty.

But why, why, why, why could he not s […]

Esposito, Fiorani, Fogagnolo, Casiraghi, Soncini.
Who are these people?
Principato, Del Riccio, Temolo, Vertemati, Gasparini.
What are these names?
Galimberti, Ragni, Bravin, Mastrodomenico, Poletti.
Have they […]

David Moyes has proved adept, no-one could say that he’s inept,
He sure knows how to make the most of limited resources.
Came in seventh this Campaign, fourth place once or twice,
His diet’s bread ‘n’ butter, […]

Victory has a thousand sires,
Of credit each claims portion.
Defeat’s progenitors are unknown,
The poor mite is an orphan.

The Winning Team’s supporters

“We really were the Twelfth Man today –
Thro […]

Why do they call them the Viola?
It isn’t so easy to see.
For they are not playing in viola,
They’re playing in yellow it seems.

Well, I forked out twenty-five euros
To watch Viola playing tonight,
But fin […]

Born in nineteen sixty-two,
I still have hazy memories
Of our Triumph four years later:
Staring at the black-white screen,
Chanting “We’ve won the Cup!”,
Not fully comprehending why the fuss.

And if I peer […]

The first sorrow is of the Gaffer,
Who promised so much,
But whose reputation now lies in tatters.

The second sorrow is of the keeper,
Whose bungled save derailed the Campaign
Before it had time to get […]

Now you are in your pomp.
The ball is at your feet,
And life is a romp.
Fame and fortune are yours.
Only training is a chore.
Cars and cash, gravy and girls,
Camera’s flash and wild social whirl.
This is y […]