Football Poets

everybody’s talkin’ bout the South-South divide
everybody’s waitin’ for the turnin’ of the tide
everybody’s known for years – way down deep inside
for Manchester and Liverpool it’s time to step aside

from Elland […]

in Africa…wise men say – it is un-wise
to choose between the might of Africa’s footballing countries…
in Zimbabwe and Rwanda for instance
each with their own vivid distractions of the day
it is still easy to […]

So are you going to Scarborough yeah?
Wouldn’t you rather be massaging your hair?
Pampering your egos showing off your cars
Papparazzi heaven and celebrity bars..
Wouldn’t you rather be ‘lording it’ up West
Out on […]

tinkerman tinkerman cook me a team
pick with your eyes closed
and give me a dream
pat it with mutu or crespo or duff
veron it with joe cole and all of that stuff

keep on rotating it’s good for the side
we tinker […]

what is it about the third round of the cup?

more magic than the Secret Garden
when you find yourself in it
on that great day

and more than the respite
from lower region relegation struggles
or where you are […]

And as it grew closer to Christmas in Chelsea
and all across the land
the crowds did gather
before the not quite Master of the English Language…
and there they did stand in Armani and Versace
rubbing their lap […]

NOW THEY CALLED HIM -THE SHELLEY- OF FOOTBALL
HE’S THE POET WHO RE-WROTE THE GAME
WITH THE HEART OF A CHILD – HE HAD WIT HE HAD STYLE
AND HIS LIKE WILL WE E’RE SEE AGAIN?-
AND HE WASN’T- OUT THERE- ON A SAL […]

well it’s starting to get pretty late now
it’s getting real late in the year
we might as well wait til next season my friend
when the heart becomes hopeful and clear
and lately i’m thinking how fickle it it is
an […]

and so dear friends my all-time team and line-up I unfold
upon the field and paper the greatest ever told
whose keeper sat and sometimes stood more steadfast than a mast
between the posts young BUDDHA smiled as […]

now they say if you recall the sixties
you probably weren’t even there
but i can still see it as clear as the day
all those flowers and dreams in your hair –
from the first of the CND marches
to football games m […]

what now
with ‘becks’ to spain
and zola too –
from chelsea’s hallowed turf
long gone

who now
to steer banana blasts
past walls of steel
as if they were not there

who now to jink and weave past lunging feet
like […]

what now

with becks and zola gone

who now to light the days ?

no curving dead ball wonder strikes

no jinking runs and sweet delights

of style and touch and grace

so how did you end up this season
how was the season for you
all of those hopes and euphoria
what were the things that came through?

did you go higher and higher?
or was it a case of exist
all of those moments […]

i have this crazy feeling
it just could be our year
or could be yours who knows for sure
still dreamin’ never fear

for something tells me – fate or dream
good fortune on us smiles
and over those whose football […]

And who can hide this loyalty
though be it team or game
or camouflage this nervousness
pray do not feel ashamed

for you who still feel tingles
each Saturday at three
where’ere you are …right there or […]

I still can feel the passion
these muscles ache and tense
and who would dream
this love would last
long after innocence

to spend a childhood chasing
to travel everywhere
from East and West
and North to […]

and so at last my all-time team and line-up I unfold
upon the field and paper the greatest ever told
whose keeper sat and sometimes stood more steadfast than a mast
between the posts young BUDDHA smiled as ev’ry b […]

the name of Arthur Wharton may be distant as the stars
but once he shone a long long time ago
and you would never guess this at the mention of his name
the bravery audacity the struggle and the pain
the very […]

it’s not just football friends oh no
that suffers in this style
they’ve banned the sport we loved to play
is racism to blame I say
how can our schools just take away
our conkers?

and banish now like leaves from […]

how deep into the heartland
of Europe still they strike
those Vikings brave who rode the tide
with many gods upon their side
who fought against the Alfreds
the Zolas and their like

some solace to reflect […]