Football Poets

The white and the gold
The kings and the kings to be
Stepping onto the technicolour stage
To unharness the meticulous
And the miraculous
The supreme attacker
Like a surging meteor
Toward the peerless […]

The natural freedom
Whose wise limbs
Came to life
As the King who rained
Over defences with his fingers
Digging deep into sleeve-ends
The skinny frame
Quicker than a cat on heat
Twisting like […]

Football’s fickle gods
Delight in creating havoc in hearts and minds
“As flies to wanton boys are we to th’ gods”
So spake Shakepseare’s Gloucester
And tis true of football
They weave their tricks in the […]

As the seasons come then race away
And hopes all turned to dust
Fortunes made, and fortunes spent
Of titles won, and lost
What price this love this fickle dream
Which binds with such a bond
That turns us all […]

Big Nev the toffees goalie
He was boss between the sticks
But now he’s taking on the Tories
And helping people on the streets
He’s an LGBT Champion
And he’ll really make you think
His words are spoken […]

Should be a football shirt
Of neutral colours
One size fits all…
Splattered with sweat
Not sanctimonious lessons not learnt
From history
Worn with peace
Not pieces of bodies
Played on a pitch
Not pitch b […]

Grass roots football
Scottish Amateur Football League
All action against the backdrop of Loch Gilp

Sea salt catches the wind
And the screaming gulls circle indifferent
To the men in red and white […]

They were Roger Hunt and Georgie Best
Rivelino Charlie George
Bobby Charlton Johnny Haynes
But I was always
Bobby Moore

They copied Maradona Beckenbauer
Just Fontaine Garrincha scored
Eusebio Puskas […]

Emily Bronte didn’t play football
Not for Leeds Utd, Bradford City
Or even a Haworth XI
She didn’t fly down the wing
Spraying passes to Branwell
Charlotte and Anne
She didn’t tackle anything other than […]

Did not play much football
And when he raced across Strawberry Fields
He ghosted between the spaces of childhood
Slipped unnoticed behind the gaps
Where nothing is real
Except the Eccho of the past

He […]

Sunday park leaguers
Premier dreamers
With Beckham’s hairstyles
But not his goals
The dead eye on managers
Whose hearts win matches
But whose tactics won’t
Patience for sale for the price of 3 poi […]

The technicolour black and white
Diamond brilliance
Of generations who stood
On the terrace choir
Throats blistered with unrequited passion
Whilst its youth watched champions deposed
And parliament auction […]

Your eyes shine
Like Mane through
Your lips as red
As Gerrard’s boots
This Ring of Fire Allez Les Rouges
My Kenny Dalglish my Ian Rush
You trap my dreams
Nutmeg my soul
You’re Shankly’s words […]

The magician di Stefano
White arrow silver string
From the burning bow
That is the Madrilenos
And Gento his flamboyant colours
Brave as Picasso and passionate as Lorca
Kopa came out from the mines a miracle […]

Stryker, stryker burning bright
Upon the pitch beneath floodlight
What immortal football boot
Dare frame thy fearful aim to shoot

In what jinking runs aspired
And scorched the wings from side to side
Would […]

There are few heroes left in the game
Too many fast cars for slow strikers
Yet to earn the points on the silver spurs

But one lad
Grafting far from the glare
Of the sparkling lights

Number 29
Stanley […]