Football Poets

how cool to be a neutral fan
on such a magic night
I’ve come five hundred miles today
I’m staggered by the sight
of endless kids with youthful screams
that bellow in our ears
at ticket prices that defy
and echo […]

how cold today this world outside
how many here recall
the day the great United died
the finest team of all
at barely ten I woke to find
so many flowers gone
the snow and wreckage caught in time
how would the […]

can you remember the first time
maybe you struggled to see
but I didn’t care I was glad to be there
the first time that someone took me

can you remember the first game
can you remember the day
did you keep saying […]

heads up Becks is off again
Real’s sub’s bench farewell then
David says he longs to play
over the hill and far away

Chorus :
over the hill and far away
England Spain and now LA
past his sell-by some people […]

hey Vince the game is blurry
but sometimes I’m back there with you
and I’m 14 again and up for the Cup at Man U

you and I best school mates from the word go
different house teams
but both so into football and […]

whatever happened to the man on the street

living on the edge and making ends meet

priced right out by the cost of a seat

no place here for the man on the street

long long ago we would value their […]

it’s David and Goliath time it’s boys among the men
the club the pride the media ride it’s that ol’ time again
we’ve waited years to get a run and this could turn it round
we’re gonna take it as it comes and milk […]

this is the day when it all goes mad
the lion will be facing the pup
big or small means nothing at all
this is the FA Cup

this is the chance for glory
this is the time to say
nothing is certain til they close […]

where the pictures come alive
where the goalies leap and dive
on the train and into town
that’s the way to the football ground

where the fans all sing the latest
where the players are the greatest
there to cheer […]

when they switch off the lights here forever
there are moments galore to remind
there are un-ashamed tears mixed with strange distant fears
and the words become harder to find
when you leave for the very last […]

among these hills at Christmas time
when scent of oranges and wine
envelop both my heart and mind
I stop to pause a while
among the busy passers by
with anxious glances in their eye
sometimes your face brings […]

I dunno how I manage it all season
sloping off and catching all those games
pubs get kinda smokey but the atmosphere’s electric
even though it’s never quite the same

now some bang on with pint in hand and ramble […]

some get moved by the smell of the sea
some get high over scones and tea
some love car boots wading through junk
some go to India and live like a monk
some like nothing more than hanging around
but I get the buzz […]

there in the trenches

a brief game between the lines

in nineteen fourteen

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 the […]

another Christmas in Iraq
and how far have we come
the dead increase and hope and peace
are ever on the run

I’d love to think naively
that football might entwine
our soldiers and our battered hosts
as in another […]

who here will tire ?
those shots of yesterday
thrills spills tears and fears
cardboard silver paper cupfuls
of shocks and suprises
when favourites tumbled again and again and again
in the magic

cold December […]

when both teams stretch to win so much
when neither long to lose
when all lay hinged upon a touch
when Man U faced the Blues

when heavyweights lock hearts and horns
when stars must strive to shine
when men must […]

way up in the Nou Camp the night looked busy
some of those fans must have gone home dizzy
high as the level where the Chelsea fans sit
five tiers up as their hosts see fit
lofty as the hope in a Barca fan’s […]

to reach the top is very hard
you have to start in your backyard
or any spot of grass or land
that may arise or come to hand
for footballers come two a penny
and obstacles are large and many
and if by chance you […]