• In Search Of Lost Grounds
    Mr Wordsworth walks to Bolton He wandered lonely as a cloud At evening in the encroaching dark When all at once he saw a crowd A floodlit game at Burnden Park! “Dine at the Packhorse” along the roof The driver leaning from his train The thronged embankment – all was proof That the Wanderers had […]
  • Spion Kop
    SPION KOP “In 1903 we stood on Spion Kop Clattering our hob-nail boots against the wall” My grand-dad recollected this for me When he was eighty, in Nineteen Sixty Three Remembering a centre-half called Joe McCall. “And we walked the road from Deepdale to Ewood Park…” The tale went on, recalling his Edwardian past “…to […]
  • Kids playing football
    Do you remember old tales about football in the Fifties How your skill might spare you from going down the mines? How Jackie and Bobby would be out near the colliery Surrounded by Milburns and the rest of their tribe? How kids would spontaneously play in the backstreets With jumpers for goalposts, from morning till […]
  • Empty shells
    A bird flew north over Italy Over Naples’ volcanic home Which worshipped Maradona in his prime Flew over Lazio and the Olimpico Climbed up its high ellipse Heading for the evening sun On her distant seven hills Then followed the Arno Sought out the delicate drooping flower of Fiorentina Wilting now A tangible absence So […]
  • Back of the Net
    Arriving at a certain age I chanced upon a Facebook Page A football follower’s delight Outclassing every other site: No views of Best or Ken Dalgleish Or Cruyff, for this was far more niche It specialised in retro sets Of photographs of football nets With sturdy bars and sturdy posts And sturdy stanchions in an […]