|

Poems tagged ‘Manchester United’

The Day We Lost A Football Team ~ Remembered

Crispin Thomas

Wednesday, February 5th, 2020

if you were alive
child woman or man
you remember the day still
like yesterday
like Lennon like Kennedy
or the day we landed on the moon
the day we woke to realise
we’d lost a football team

that moment when everything
slowed to a moan
like singles when the power would go
or 78s on out of turn gramophones
the day we woke to realise
we’d lost a football team

so young then all life before me
and so in awe of maybe just maybe
the greatest team we ‘d ever spawned
and for so many of those we lost
their lives too so clearly just begun
but all that changed
all gone upon a runway to nowhere
the day we woke to realise
we’d lost a football team

the morning dawned
to find you
staring into your tea
not speaking at breakfast
gazing in disbelief
at grainy snowy shots
in muddled black and white
there upon the table
the day we woke to realise
we’d lost a football team

what point school today?
must I go mum?
we didn’t even support United
but united we all were then
when fate cast that shadow
one cold Munich afternoon
upon our game upon our world
I just remember how sick I felt inside
so sad so sad
the day we woke to realise
we’d lost a football team

watching the heartbreaks
on our new tv
loved ones parents friends
as bedside vigils unfolded before our eyes
Duncan Edwards Frank Swift
Tommy Taylor Roger Byrne 23 in all
the names go on.
where have they gone
where too those fifty years?

and on that day – as this
we think of them
as then as now
the way we felt
the helplessness
the day we woke to realise
we’d lost a football team

Be the first to leave a comment »

“Of Course She Understands”

kevin raymond

Monday, November 25th, 2019

To say the atmosphere was fraught, watching Man U totally out-fought,
In the betting down Rye Lane yesterday
Would be…putting it politely, as t’was looking highly likely
The Blades would be more than worthy victors…come the close of play?

A group of African boys screamed and bawled, at the plasma on the wall
As Man U easily parted company with the ball
I thought fisticuffs was on the cards, as one or two played the charade,
”They should let me pick the team, I’d drop them all?”.

The braggadocio, finger pointing, and veiled threats got right annoying
As us interested nervous neutrals tried to watch the match
A chilled-out cheeky Jamaican called for calm, with more than a modicum of alarm,
Who seemed to hold a position of respect midst the gobby mass?

Suddenly…a quick one-two, then three, despair morphed in to glee
Studious punters dropped their betting slips aghast
A lauded knight on T.V beamed, as all around me screamed
At a comeback, up there with those of Francis Albert in our past.

Till…the door to victory slammed shut, caused fanatics do their nut,
“It’s going to VAR”, went up a hopeful shout,
“Hand-ball, they’ll disallow it”, “No they won’t, it hit his chest allow it”,
About twenty-five of us vociferously unified in…doubt.

At three all the final whistle blows, the game comes to a close
and just before deflated sombre souls take to the street,
“You boys shouting an a screaming, means my customers are leaving
If it happens again, they’ll be no more football shown next week”.

“But mam please”, pled a leaving man, “You don’t understand?”,
“Don’t be stupid, of course she understands, what planet are you from man?”,
She knows what its all about, she’s a Millwall fan”.

Peace

Be the first to leave a comment »

Ray Wilkins 1956 – 2018

Emdad Rahman

Thursday, April 5th, 2018

At the tender age of eighteen
Stamford Bridge he made his mark
The boy did ‘dangerously well’
A class act on and off the park

Deft touches and radar passes
Is how we’ll celebrate Ray
That lob and chip against Belgique
Elegant and masterful play

An FA Cup final curler
Ray rocked the mic at Wembley
He valued the small people
The cleaner, the fan, the trainee

Old Firm stunner for that Ibrox hero
Today he’d be England’s Pirlo
Leggenda Rossonera
Ciao Ray from the San Siro

number7
©emdad rahman

1 Comment »

The Day We Lost A Football Team

Crispin Thomas

Saturday, January 27th, 2018

if you were alive child woman or man
you remember the day still
like yesterday like Lennon like Kennedy
or the day we landed on the moon
and I was only ten
I cried into my tea
the day we woke to realise
we’d lost a football team

that moment when everything
slowed to a moan
like singles when the power would go
or 78s on out of turn gramophones
the day we woke to realise
we’d lost a football team

so young then all life before me
and so in awe of maybe just maybe
the greatest team we ‘d ever spawned
and for so many of those we lost
their lives too so clearly just begun
but all that changed
all gone upon a runway to nowhere
the day we woke to realise
we’d lost a football team

the morning dawned
to find you
staring into your Weetabix
not speaking at breakfast
gazing in disbelief
at grainy snowy shots
in muddled black and white
there upon the table
the day we woke to realise
we’d lost a football team

what point school today?
must I go mum?
we didn’t even support United
but united we all were then
when fate cast that shadow
one cold Munich afternoon
upon our game upon our world
I just remember how sick I felt inside
so sad so sad
the day we woke to realise
we’d lost a football team

watching the heartbreaks
on our new tv
loved ones parents friends
as bedsid vigils unfolded before our eyes
Duncan Edwards Frank Swift
Tommy Taylor Roger Byrne.23 in all
the names go on..
where have they gone
where too those sixty years?
and on that day as this
we think of them
as then as now
the way we felt
the helplessness
the day we woke to realise
we’d lost a football team

© CTO8

Be the first to leave a comment »

Source: http://footballpoets.org/news/poem-tags/manchester-united/page/2/