Football Poets

Selling to Survive

Selling to survive is an art.
Some clubs do it exceptionally well.

They flog their star player for a princely sum,
Then unearth two nuggets that make their Ground hum.
Two young, bright prospects who cost next to nowt.
One bungs ’em in, and one keeps ’em out.

But GCFC have never excelled
At the wheel and the deal
Of the buy and the sell.

Three good ‘uns were let go
To balance the books:
Keeper Martinez, Retegui and “Gud”.

As oft-times before, we sold to survive.
But now we’re in trouble, gone into nose-dive.
Seven games played and points only five.

Sell to survive if you’ve mastered the art.
If not, keep best players,
Don’t let them depart.

10/10/2024
Denys E. W. Jones

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The Lesson

It’s our first season back in the Top Flight,
Our learning curve’s still pretty steep.
We’re keeping our heads above water,
But sometimes said water’s too deep.

Atalanta paid visit on Sunday,
Came down on us like ton of bricks.
In the course of the ninety-odd minutes,
They taught us a few of their tricks:

How to string passes together.
How to conduct the high press.
How any onslaught to weather,
Soak up pressure and cope with the stress.

How to turn on a sixpence and fire home.
How to bend a free-kick round the wall.
How to play from the back, how to counterattack,
How, in short, to play decent football.

They came and they saw and they conquered.
From the outset we were on the ropes.
Truth be told, we must have been bonkers
To think that we had any hope.

Near the end we had hoisted the white flag.
At full-time we were wholly disarmed.
They didn’t half give us a lesson,
And it sure won’t do us any harm.

12/2/24
Denys E. W. Jones

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Ooh ah, Serie A!

Milan, Inter, BolognA.
Ooh ah, Serie A!

Atalanta, VeronA.
Ooh ah, Serie A!

Juve, Lecce, Empoli.
Ooh ah, Serie A!

Udinese, Napoli.
Ooh ah, Serie A!

Sassuolo and Cagliari.
Ooh ah, Serie A!

Monza, Roma, Lazio.
Ooh ah, Serie A!

Salernitana, Torino.
Ooh ah, Serie A!

Frosinone, Fiorentina,
Ooh ah, Serie A!

Tasty as a fiorentina.
Ooh ah, Serie A!

Last, but not least, GenoA!
Ooh ah, here we are!

But no Samp-dor-ia.
He-he, ha-ha-ha!

13/8/23
Denys E. W. Jones

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Will you come to De Ferrari? 2023

Will you come to De Ferrari, will you come?
Not a shadow of a doubt that you’ll have fun.
There’ll be thousands in that Square,
If you have some time to spare,
You should come to De Ferrari, you should come.

Well, we’ve spent nine long, hard months in Serie B,
Which is not where we believe we ought to be.
We belong in the Top Flight,
It’s our God-given birthright,
Cos we’ve been around since Eighteen Ninety-Three!

You can jump into the Fountain if you’re bold.
Though the water might still be a little cold.
But who cares if you get wet,
And you don’t work up a sweat?
You can tell grandkids about it when you’re old.

Now Sampdoria fans with envy they are green,
Cos their team is coming down to where we’ve been.
And they won’t be going back,
No, indeed with any luck,
They will sink still further down to Serie C!

So get down to De Ferrari in fifth gear.
We’ve been waiting for this moment for a year.
‘Course, Josh Wander will be there,
And we’ll toss him in the air,
Cos his cash has got us into the Top Tier!

6/5/23
Denys E. W. Jones

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The Chasing Pack

Who wants to lead the Tour de France
Or Fifteen Hundred Metres?
Who wants to head the Marathon,
And seem like a world-beater?

How ’bout top spot in Premiership,
In Serie A or B?
I tell you, in the Peloton
Is where it’s best to be.

If you rush too far out in front,
You’re taking a big risk.
Quite likely you’ll run out of steam,
And then won’t be so quick.

Recall the tardy tortoise
Was outstripped by the hare,
But we all know who won the race,
And won it fair and square.

So we’re not trying to lead the charge,
Oh no, we’re hanging back.
We’re sat just where we want to be,
That’s in the Chasing Pack!

For Serie B sure ain’t no sprint,
It’s long and hard and tough.
And if you don’t conserve your strength,
You’ll end up out of puff.

So don’t fret if we’ve dropped some points,
We’re not in any hurry.
Our Plan’s to play a waiting game,
We’ll get there, don’t you worry.

The months of April and of May
Are when Promotion’s won.
In days of showers and darling buds,
Now that’s the time to run!

So we’ll wait for the Spring to come,
When Winter’s chills have passed.
We’ll stop for grub, fill up the tank,
And then step on the Gas…

10/12/22
Denys E. W. Jones

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Genoa v Cittadella

“They call us Cinderella,
Cos we’re in Serie B.
But I say the Ferraris
Is the only place to be.

We’re playing Cittadella,
No pushovers are they.
So get down to Marassi
At 3pm today.

We’ve Strootman, Frendrup, Coda,
They’re surely worth a watch.
Yes, come to the Ferraris,
To see a decent match.

And keep your Lio Messi,
Mbappé or Harry Kane,
For from the Gradinata Nord
You’ll see a cracking game.”

The final score was Nil-One,
But that don’t mean a thing.
The match was a humdinger,
Packed with pizzazz and zing.

No lack of goalmouth incident,
A few we could have scored.
Of two and twenty thousand fans,
Not one of us was bored.

They say we’re Ugly Sisters,
Cos we’re in Serie B.
But to my mind Marassi
Is the place I wanna be.

So come and join us down there,
It’s really not too far.
I’d rather watch the football there
Than any in Qatar.

6/12/22
Denys E. W. Jones

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Farewell to A

Farewell Inter, Milan, Juve,
Farewell Roma, Lazio too.
Farewell Spezia, Fiorentina,
Fair Verona’s Gialloblu.

Bye Bologna, Atalanta,
Udinese, Empoli.
Ciao Torino, and Sassuolo,
Sayonara Napoli.

Lastly there’s “So long Sampdoria”,
Cousins from our selfsame town,
Taunting us: “Sic transit gloria”,
So glad that we’re going down.

Yes, we’re falling through the trapdoor,
Dropping into Purgat’ry,
Slipping to the Second Level,
Also known as Serie B.

But no way are we downhearted,
We all trust the future’s bright.
Confident when next May comes round,
We’ll be back in the Top Flight!

15/5/22
Denys E. W. Jones

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