Football Poets

Hammers in Euro semi final.

¶ 1 Leave a comment on verse 1 0 Hammers in Euro semi final
Can this really be happening
A second instalment of 1976
West Ham, repeating history
Against Teutonic thoroughness
Eintracht Frankfurt, pinch us
Before we awake to the realisation
That fate has re-united us with
Our European Cup Winners Cup
Opponents of old, but this is
The new currency, the German
Euro rather than that daunting
Deutschmark that always seemed
To appreciate in value
Particularly when Bayern Munich
Were on song and Franz Beckenbauer
Held court in his royal empire
For the German national team
A domineering and controlling
Giant of a player, a monolith
Of a centre half
But tonight the claret and blue
Toppled the team that took its
Baton and cue from the current
World Champions
A stunning victory for East End,
Vitality and dogged defiance
Squires of their manor
Country estate landowners
Of the London Stadium stately pile
A night to treasure in France
The natives will be more than restless
The Bastille has been conquered
No more days to celebrate
Savoir faire or Tour De France
Heroes and swaggering strollers
Lyon are ancient history
Dawson breaks down the French
Hysteria and then finds
A wall of Lyon silence
Their supporters open mouthed
Then Bowen finds another bullseye
And wins a caravan for his troubles
Super, smashing
But seriously these are rose
Complexioned days, flair and
Fantasy incarnate, claret and blue disbelief
Astonishment in eyes of those
Who can hardly believe that 46 years
After the night when Frankfurt came
To the Upton Park mud and divots
Sir Trev and Keith Robson with miracles
In their feet would dismantle German
Hubris and presumption, Frankfurt beaten
But then as if by magic it came to pass that
Now Rice could be sprinkled liberally
And joyously over German centres of
Command, the shot of a man
Whose England credentials are set in stone
Another crucial goal
Oh what a night when the Irons
Found their way in France
To unlock the bolt of the Lyon
Castle that may haunt them
For years to come
Surely you’re dreaming
West Ham in a European
Semi final against a mirror
Image of 76 when Johnny
Was far from rotten
And punk screamed from
Its boisterous cot.
Eintracht Frankfurt
Surely not, will somebody
Nudge the devoted
Hordes who follow
Through thick and thin
This could be our moment
In the claret and blue sun
Bubbles will never burst

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