Poems tagged ‘New managers’
Sean Dyche sacked at Burnley
Here we go again
The sack race as
Opposed to youthful
Egg and spoon races
Sean Dyche, now history
For the Burnley bigwigs
At boardroom level
Sighs of discontent
And then dismissed
In the blink of an eyelid
Relegation looms like
An ugly blight on their landscape
After brief European dalliances
This season the wheels have fallen off
Brake pads need to be oiled
The engine is showing signs of rust,
Wear and tear and Championship
Sirens are wailing at Turfmoor
Burnley, a big club in the historical sense
Once revered by the Lowry
Appreciation society
League Champions from yesteryear
At the beginning of the 1960s when
Everything swung in metronomic fashion
But now decaying and decomposing like
A listed building that once housed
Captains of industry
But Sean Dyche with that gravelly
Delivery, delivered straight from
Working men’s clubs in North
West England but now silenced
Is searching for another club
With footballing crests
And distinctive badges of honour
Burnley, the club you recall
From your 1970s burgeoning adolescence
With Ray Hankin up front
Leighton James shuffling, jinking,
Dropping shoulders of footballing
Duplicity, a wing wizard, head down
Poised like a cobra to spring forward
Pantherine, charging towards by lines
Feline pace, checking, baffling, cleverness in his
Thought patterns, cutting back onto his
Best feet and crossing to the land
Of precise perfection, both near
and far post,
Then Brian Flynn
Eager as a beaver,
Plotting in conspiratorial fashion
But never a spy from the underworld
While Martin Dobson glided and pirouetted
A creative catalyst, a sparking plug, casting
A critical eye in midfield, analysing the
Midfield like a surveyor of quality and taste
Spreading shrewdness and enlightenment
Over the Burnley skyline of the Lowry
Collection of pencil thin, charcoal
Industrial chimneys and quaint mills
Of once mighty influence over
Clouds of smoke mushrooming over
Factory floors, Burnley they turned to
On Saturday afternoons at three
Men, women and children gathered
For their perennial groans and triumphs
But now Sean Dyche, one of football’s
Nice guys finds that managerial hardships
Are part and parcel of our game
And yet sent packing with vital matches
To play for and points on the board
Surely, appalling timing, grimy hands
At the tiller
Perhaps misjudging their moment to
Make, quite possibly rash decisions
But Dyche gets the dismissive boot
Drop kicked into obscurity or
Temporarily so one must hope
Burnley on a downward spiral
Will find just desserts
Time may or may not be on their side
But Sean Dyche has lost that much
Coveted watch. Your clock has lost
Its hour hand and the cold door of farewell
Mr Dyche is this way rather than the other
Be sure to remember
If it’s any consolation
Managers are always vulnerable,
Downtrodden figures, never secure
Never sure of their place, their orientation
Always seeking the elusive chemical formula
For winning Leagues and Cups
Ruined and demoralised by their daily
Toil, drudgery, victims of the game’s
Changing moods and vagaries of climate
We know you’ll be back Sean
Born again
Gritty as granite
Leading from the front
And writer of more compositions
Essays of truth and sincerity
Long ball and directness
Or the Beautiful passing game
On Brian Clough’s well cultivated
Grass, on the ground rather than aerial
Combat.
Where football becomes a floating
Hot air balloon, falling from the air
Like some intruder from another
Suburb, village or town
Sean Dyche we wish you well
Since football managers could never
Tell when their time was up
Read the mind of your demanding
Owners, football management
It has to be a mug’s game.
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Welcome to Football Poets -- a club for all football poets, lovers of football and lovers of (alternative) poetry. Discover poets in every league from respected internationals at the top of their game to young hopefuls in the school playground.
Publish your football poems here and then discuss them with your team mates and fans. We're archived by The British Library, so your masterpieces are in the safe hands of a world-class keeper. What a result!
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Latest Poems
joe morris
6th May 2024
joe morris
4th May 2024
Crispin Thomas
2nd May 2024
joe morris
2nd May 2024
joe morris
28th April 2024
Richard Williams
26th April 2024
joe morris
25th April 2024
Denys E. W. Jones
25th April 2024
kevin halls
23rd April 2024
Alex Saynor
23rd April 2024
Crispin’s Corner
In Memoriam
Kick It Out & Christmas Truce
Latest Comments
29th April 2024 at 2:47 pm
Hi Denys,
Yes Richard Williams you’re a brilliant wordsmith, my friend. When I first saw your football poetry I thought it was the superb Guardian sports and music writer. I once had the honour of sitting next to Richard Williams while at the Independent on the sports desk. He writes about music and sport with immense knowledge and authority. I’ve read a couple of Richard’s books recently. Great writer rather like you Richard Williams the Pompey fan. Congratulations on promotion.
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28th April 2024 at 5:59 pm
Thanks Denys. Yes your replay poem was superb.
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26th April 2024 at 4:46 pm
Nice work, Joe. You were quick off the mark with that! Good one from Richard Williams too I see.
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25th April 2024 at 7:33 pm
Hi Denys,
Thanks mate. I’ll do it now.
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25th April 2024 at 1:56 pm
Thanks Joe,
you might like to write a poem yourself on the same subject…
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23rd April 2024 at 4:03 pm
Hi Denys
With you all the way on the abolition of FA Cup replays. What are they doing to the game?
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23rd April 2024 at 3:59 pm
Hi Crispin,
Yes sorry mate. Villa are still in Europe. Mistake rectified.
Cheers
Joe
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20th April 2024 at 12:04 pm
Hi Joe
Shouldn’t your title read your poem Farewell Europe England to everyone exccept Aston Villa ?
I know you mention them in your poem , but I do feel sorry for Villa re the national press .
Largely ignored. the hype was was all about Man City & Arsenal with a bit of a nod to the Hammers..but hardly a mention of Villa..
So well done to them
C
.
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19th March 2024 at 8:00 am
Hi Crispin. Chris Sutton on the radio has gone for a Chelsea v Coventry final. As we know anything can happen in the Cup, and I reckon we can go to the final.
We’re still in with a chance of the play offs too, so lots to go for.
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19th March 2024 at 7:41 am
Hey Kev
Let the masses drool over their odds on City v Unted Final, but who knows how pressure can hit.
Cov and Chels will be rightly labelled as having no chance..but hey …stranger things have happened..
so Chelsea v Coventry…that’s the Final for us!
Best
C
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