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Antoine Van der Linden Syndrome

mark merriman

Saturday, April 20th, 2013

1 Leave a comment on verse 1 0 Erstwhile manager Andy King
desperately needed a goal to
save Town from the dreaded drop
so he put rangy Dutch defender
Van der Linden up top
You know what?
The big fella notched so
King tried it again and again.
With no more success though.
* * * * * * * *
Fast forward a decade or more
to watch centre half Flint score
twice with precise, crisp finishes
and have one scraped off the line;
got the feeling that the big fella
quite fancied it, his towering frame
a constant threat, a lurking
presence at the back stick.
Would have appealed to Andy King, that.

© mark merriman september 2004

Notes

Generally not a fan of big centre halfs being thrown up front as it smacks of desperation, though sometimes needs must. Big Aden Flint’s two finishes were sublime today to cement Town’s place in the League One play-offs. Thanks to Liam Scanlon for the idea for the poem’s title.

Source: http://footballpoets.org/poems/antoine-van-der-linden-syndrome/