Football Poets

Hammers in Europe again

¶ 1 Leave a comment on verse 1 0 Ah, yet another claret and blue
Odyssey into the land of the unknown
Travelling light
Voyages of discovery
West Ham transported into
Yet more European battlegrounds
Passports officially stamped
Luggage rigorously checked
Last night
The Europa League welcomes
The East End seasoned troopers
Back into the fold
Where Europe’s finest
Exhibitionists
Display their garish finery
The obscure but never
To be taken for granted
Since football, in all
Its cosmopolitan clothing
Still commands respect
In those World Cup history
Books of long ago
Where once Real and Bayern
Placed their carbon footprint
In European football
And of course the Euros
Lest we forget
West Ham though
Back in familiar waters
Re-directing their binoculars
On the Europa League
Agonisingly close against Frankfurt
Before the Germans showed
Their fluid patterns
And supple techniques
Teutonic feet of gold
Hammers knocked out by
Eintracht Frankfurt
In Europa League semi final
But far from shamed
Close but not on that night
Thwarted by a hurdle too far
For West Ham last night
This was a repetition of the
Episode from two seasons back
But entirely different circumstances
Football moves on
And West Ham are worldly and enlightened
They’ve known the peaks and troughs
The peaks of Prague
Where the Hammers won
Czech mate
Bishop and Knight
Found the queen
Drunk on success
Take the castle
Break open the portcullis
And hey presto
The Euro Conference trophy
Was yours to keep
For a while
Fleetingly glorious
Fiorentina flummoxed
By the claret and blue
Technicians
Benrahma strokes home
Penalty before
Lucas with Brazilian
Brilliance
Through the eye of a needle
Slots impeccable through ball
For Jarred to send the Hammers
Into a world of happy ever
After romance and febrile fantasy
Last night Serbia came calling
Backa Topola
Who are they?
Exactly
Certainly not
Accrington Stanley
A million miles away
from the Milans of AC,
And Inter, the indomitable
Bayern Munich, Real Madrid
And Barcelona
But Backa took the lead
With a comedy act of a
Back pass that defied belief
Before Kudus
Moved the mountain Mohammed
Spring heeled header
Level pegging and then again
Before Tomas met with head
From another JWP special
Straight from the deepest quadrant
Corner. 3-1 to the claret and blue
Assembly line of gilded talent
London Stadium thrilled to be here
Among the European sophisticates
Pinching themselves in case
The sceptics pour scorn
On the downtrodden Irons
How far can they go this time?
We shall see
But please remember the bread
And butter of the Premier League
There are no crusts in the
Europa League
So prioritise the home comforts
And another assault on the top 10
West Ham go gently
Into the night
Carefully, cautiously
Liverpool at Anfield
On Sunday, now there’s
A reality check
You fear the worst
Since the gypsy curse
Has always haunted
The Happy Hammers
For decades now
Apart from that one
Chink of light
During the last season
At Upton Park
When Manny Lanzini
And Mark Noble
Stopped the rot
On Merseyside
Oh to be a claret and blue
Loyalist
Neither up nor down
Never a dull moment
When the odds are stacked
Against them
David Moyes delivers
Repeatedly
It certainly can’t be
Denied

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