Football Poets

Let’s celebrate Claudio’s arrival
and his quest to ensure our survival.
By upping the wattage
down at the Cottage
He’ll surely spark our revival.

On arriving when Slav got the sack
Claudio stated (to put us on track);
“Smettiamo di perdere ora!…
…We need one more scorer,
And a tightening up at the back”

It’s got to be done, come rain, hail or sun,
Before leaving home the last check –
My favourite scarf (the old Demon one)
Knotted secure round my neck.
My right shoe on first, laced up with care
just as when I […]

Leaderless, faultering, eternal poor neighbours
of famous-named clubs (and one rouble rich!)
Not gaining rewards deserved of our labours
because of our tactics out there on the pitch.
Don’t say it’s a crisis.. […]

The time for the mediocre’s passed,
False dawns can stand aside..
They’ve tried us sore, down to the core,
but never dented pride.
As Piaf would say in her chic French way;
“C’est payé, balayé, oublié… “!
Now p […]

The last game played, the chances gone-
Lost points in freezing winter rain
-The less to base our dreams upon-
have come to haunt us once again.
The tickets bought, now counterfoils,
Lie listless ‘twixt the e […]

When will it ever come to pass
That we keep in the squad a core of class?
Is it the club, or just the wages?
The same has happened to us for ages.
..Robson was with us for a long, long time,
But we allowed West […]

You might have chanced down Harbord Street
at a loose end one weekend…
Or against your better judgement
been dragged here by a friend.
Second or third generation?
Then your forebears are to blame
But no matter […]

Seasonal cheer and festive frolics
Have been stopped this year by Sparky;
“Parties are for alcoholics…
..We’ll have none of that malarkey”.

“A bowl of gruel’s all you’ll get
The same as poor Bob Cratchit
‘Cos […]

The Manor Ground; unfamiliar
For one who’d played on bigger stages
Who’d stolen headlines, earned famous wages
(“A hundred quid a week! imagine that!”)
Most folk had heard the figure quoted
And mused on what th […]

“Johnny Haynes photos a bob each”
The street seller shouts his wares
The collection of pennies handed over for the precious photo
That despite good intentions never reached a frame in place
Of honour on the […]

Hark to the sound of Cathkin Park –
The silent slopes of terraces once thronged
with those who longed to break the Glasgow mould of “Them and Us”-
stand witness to the faithful, wronged…
The stories told of […]

The “F” was an “F”, all fair and square,
The “U” was an “O” with the top bit not there….
The “L” was a “J”…(just think in reverse)
The “H” – an “8” which was trimmed for the worse.
The “A” ? – two “1”s sloping […]

Al-Fayed, who started in ninety-seven,
Harrods be thy game.
Thy kingdom’s one
That will be undone
By dearth of cash as it is at present.
Give us one day some players bred
To forgo our less passes,
(‘Cos we for […]

I sat in the Riverside Stand and froze
With fingers numbed and icy toes
On those rigid polythene affairs
The frigid moulded plastic chairs.
-And concrete’s OK for a bridge,
But it makes a football stand a ‘ […]

My fondest wish would be to see,
Included in the OED,
A certain word (they’re hard to find)
That well describes a state of mind.
Etymologically rich…
Its an attitude; a way in which
to view the world: maybe […]