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Big Malc’s Gone – Hat Heart & All

Crispin Thomas

Friday, October 15th, 2010

1 Leave a comment on verse 1 0 to anyone present still ‘old school’
his name brought a smile to us all
call him ‘wide boy’ ‘romancer’ or ‘one of the lads’
he brought something we miss to football

2 Leave a comment on verse 2 0 and the flags at Man City they fly at half mast
for a man and a time and a name
that would hoist him on top of the characters left
who moulded and coloured the game

3 Leave a comment on verse 3 0 with his Fedora hat and his seventies suits
that trademarking coat and cigar
his off-field ways brought him headlines
but his managing skills took him far

4 Leave a comment on verse 4 0 from 200 games for the Hammers
he began as a boss down in Bath
then Plymouth and Boro and Bristol
saw the start of his management path

5 Leave a comment on verse 5 0 it was up there at City the glory began
then Palace and further afield
to Canada Turkey and Lisbon
where all of his class was revealed

6 Leave a comment on verse 6 0 and the sadness you feel when they leave you
those characters loved in our lives
from Besty and Clough and now with Big Malc
and you hope that their legends survive

7 Leave a comment on verse 7 0 so I’ll end with just one of my favourite quotes
that Malcolm when asked would repeat
and he’d answer the question so dryly …..

8 Leave a comment on verse 8 0 “A lot of hard work went into that defeat!”

9 Leave a comment on verse 9 0 and the flags at Man City they fly at half mast
for a man and a time and a name
that would hoist him on top of the characters left
who moulded and coloured the game

© CT10

Notes

Malcolm Allison 1927-2010 RIP.

PS Classic Allison Tongue-in-cheek Quote Part 2
““John Bond has blackened my name with his insinuations about the private lives of football managers. Both my wives are upset!.”

Source: http://footballpoets.org/poems/big-malcs-gone-hat-heart-all/