Football Poets

A RAY OF HOPE

¶ 1 Leave a comment on verse 1 0 A RAY OF HOPE

¶ 2 Leave a comment on verse 2 0 Cup final week 2001
a centre stage for everyone
a worldwide audience comes to town
for english footballs ‘jewel in the crown’.

¶ 3 Leave a comment on verse 3 0 A day of glamour for players and fans
fanfares, balloons, and marching bands
but far from cardiffs millenium dome
a lonely figure sits at home.

¶ 4 Leave a comment on verse 4 0 A frail man who barely talks
who needs assistance when he walks
a man who once stood proud and tall
who’s now discarded by them all.

¶ 5 Leave a comment on verse 5 0 But that’s not how it’s always been
a Geordie boy burst on the scene
an instant star at highbury
his name of course, Ray Kennedy.

¶ 6 Leave a comment on verse 6 0 Think back exactly 30 years
before the illness and the tears
life was so sweet before your troubles
as you helped Arsenal win the double.

¶ 7 Leave a comment on verse 7 0 You stayed with the Gunners till 74
then Shanks came knocking on your door
his final signing you would be
a master stroke we all agree.

¶ 8 Leave a comment on verse 8 0 You were quite lethal in front of goal
but ‘Sir Bob’ gave you a differant role
to left midfield, and what a change
with your vision, goals, and passing range.

¶ 9 Leave a comment on verse 9 0 4 championships, 3 european cups
1 league, 1 uefa, is what you notched up
your records there for all to see
you’re part of Liverpool’s history.

¶ 10 Leave a comment on verse 10 0 What happened next was tragedy
you had a change of personality
with your life and marriage on its knees
you were stricken by Parkinsons Disease.

¶ 11 Leave a comment on verse 11 0 You were coaching youths at Ssunderland
when your worsening illness forced their hand
it was shortly after they cut you loose
you became a virtual recluse.

¶ 12 Leave a comment on verse 12 0 Financial ruin was quick to follow
you lost your pub then had to borrow
the lowest point was yet to come
your precious medals were all sold on.

¶ 13 Leave a comment on verse 13 0 It’s so sad to see a football great
end up in such a sorry state
a man who never walked alone
in an empty flat with a silent phone.

¶ 14 Leave a comment on verse 14 0 At the F.A. cup final this year
it would be great for him to hear
Reds and Gunners in harmony
singing ‘Ray Ray Kennedy’.

¶ 15 Leave a comment on verse 15 0 The clubs should strive to find a way
to treat him like a king that day
just give the man a warm embrace
and bring a smile back to his face.

¶ 16 Leave a comment on verse 16 0 For when this week is done and gone
his lonely life will carry on
there’s no one knocking on his door
for he’s not famous any more.

¶ 17 Leave a comment on verse 17 0 So from us all who watched you play
thankyou so much and we all pray
that god will send from his healing hand
a ‘Ray of hope’ for this lonely man.

¶ 18 Leave a comment on verse 18 0 Dave Kirby