Football Poets

sometimes it hard to say thank you
sometimes it’s harder to lose
but somebody had to get there in the end
and this time the Reds not the Blues

a season so mighty and draining
and this was no evening for […]

now that the waiting is over
now that our battles are won
now as the message sinks deeper
now that our moment has come –
now that our eyes sting with gladness
come let the revels begin
you who have followed all […]

where every mixed emotion burns
on euro nights like these
as fluttered hearts and racing heads
look long for one to lead

while fans and hacks wait drooling
to taunt and dream the day
remember well how Rome was […]

the trouble with having no ego
is that sometimes it’s so hard to cope
so Jose if somewhere you’re listening
help me you’re my only hope –
’cause I’m looking to find me an ego
I’m searching around everywher […]

sitting in the press box keeping it calm
I got Fulham fans beside me now keeping me warm
but here at the Bridge on another massive day
i’m just learning that hand-jive the Jose way

Makaton or sign language […]

looking at a photograph from nineteen fifty five
these children on the dog-track the dawning of a life
these children on the touch-line their rattles and their cheers
while urging surging crowds behind all bellow […]

is this the way to treat Mourinho?
why can’t we chill with a glass of vino
sometimes we don’t say what we mean-o
he only want the champions league

Chorus:
sha la la -la la- la la la (clap -clap)
sha la la- lala – […]

i’m sure to you this makes no sense
but two fat crows upon my fence
as clear as glass upon the sill
is but a sign we’ll win two-nil
and if my mobile thrice doth click
it means a Didier hat-trick

two shoes and […]

there’s something thumping louder than
some drum and bass or garage band
i’m being followed everywhere
and mice are gnawing at my hair
my house and shed have blown away
and all my things have gone astray
i’m […]

as the careful warrior
is ever mindful of snakes
when hunting for eggs

so should the fan
the manager
and the poet
when titles relegation and promotion
hover like dangling spiders
be wary this Easter
to avoid […]

how strange to have Easter
without a big game
there are some who would argue
the World Cup’s the same

and call me old fashioned
nostalgic and daft
but I feel like a paddle
in search of a raft

thank god for the […]

we’re just football poets with our hips and our hops
and we’re using this space to mention workshops
it might sound silly but we’re not proud
no point whispering it say it out loud
one thing reaches one thing […]

now I never had a hit an’ my rapping ain’t hot
but I kick through the rhythm and my vision don’t stop
I got forty thousand poets and we’re sittin’ in the ground
but I’m landin’ up standin’ up drummin’ up a […]

this far ahead
ten games left to go
the margin blip or outcome
nobody can know

itching for the run in
throne all there to view
time to stand with nerves of steel
to see the journey through

one thing’s for c […]

if i could for a second be
in Robben’s boots and so carefree
if time had placed me in the sun
beside a pool time til time was done
if I’d the hair Ferreira’s got
that stays in place however hot
i’d still prefer to […]

on nights like this the heart returns

to where our passioned hearts would burn

along that heaving Fulham Road

to where the floodlights loomed and glowed –

the push and shove before those gates

in frantic […]

now my nan had a shed in the garden
and the bloke down the road’s got one too
but there was a shed that i lived in for years
it was magic and rusty and blue
and the iron was all corrugated
the rooftop was leaky […]

what did he write we’ll never know
a Valentine? I don’t think so
but nice to see a little note
from Jose and his faithful coat

and was it that his mum had phoned
to ask what time he would be home
or some designer […]

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 k […]

this is the place where the pounding will begin
the space where the head and the heart start to spin
can you just imagine what’s going on within
in the changing room

here on the eve of a mighty mighty […]