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A Word with Wilf

Louis Spence

Wednesday, October 29th, 2008

1 Leave a comment on verse 1 0 Were you looking down, Wilf, were yer with me Dad
Sitting with John Widdowfield and Harry, his young lad?
Weren’t the fans terrific, did yer hear them roar
Didn’t Boro start well and what a time to score
How about their boots now, that stadium ‘n all
It would have been amazing to see you on the ball.
Just to watch Juninho must’ve made yer grin
Bet you had a chuckle when that penalty went in.
Hope it made you smile, Wilf, hope it made your day
And every other Boro fan not here with us today.
I saw you play at Ayresome in 1953
Me Dad stood in the Holgate and got me in for free.
I met you just before you died, in the cafe on Marske Stray
We talked about the old times yer made me laugh that day.
I drank with Steven Gibson the night the Cup was won
And through the tears and umpteen beers I said how well he’d done
I told him that we loved him, the way me Dad loved you
He said, ‘Look I’m no different just Boro through and through’
Next time I pass your statue I’ll linger for a while
But if I look real closely I know I’ll see you smile
It’s been a long old time, Wilf, but didn’t they do us proud
The chairman and the manager the players and the crowd
It’s been a long old time, Wilf, at last we’ve done it right
We’ve gone from that great darkness and come int the light.

Notes

Been a Boro fan for 55 years and managed to see the great Wif Mannion (Boro legend) play when I was 5. I did meet him as the poem says and I did drink with Chairmen Steve Gibson on the night – it commemorates Boro’s first trophy after 128 years of trying. In 2004 they won the League Cup beating Bolton in the final. The poem is a paean to Wilf, Steve Gibson and every other long suffering Boro fan, past and present. Thank you for your time. Louis Spence
EDITOR NOTE: No.. thank you so much for your time and poem Louis. I never saw the great Mannion play, but stood and gazed awhile recently at that statue (with plastic glasses and pies resting at its feet and fans leaning against it) . A good Stroud friend and artist Neville Gabie was commissioned to plot and commemorate (from the street grids on the back of an old 60s Boro ticket), the landmarks where Ayresome Park once stood. Among the installatiions are an iron ball and sweater which now mark the old penalty spot and centre circle around and among the houses that fill that area now.Great poem .More please!

Source: http://footballpoets.org/poems/a-word-with-wilf/