Football Poets

Rishi Sunak is a Saint

¶ 1 Leave a comment on verse 1 0 So it is that we learn
That Rishi Sunak is a Saint
Southampton through and through
Preaching the gospel of those
Who pay their hard- earned cash
At St Mary’s
Angelic, a paragon of virtue
Always early for Sunday
Morning gatherings
Amid the saintly pews
And stained glass windows
Good morning vicar
Sunak in his Sunday best
Dressed in his sartorially
Elegant apparel
Rishi politeness personified
At the altar of weekend
Football, one of Ralph’s
Faithful zealots
But mindful of the game’s
Mind blowing finances
The billions sweeping through
Sky’s kaleidoscope of colours
A man with wealth in his blood
But football in his heart
Too young to remember Ted Bates
Then briefly Ossie Osgood
Then Channon, Keegan, Bowyer,
Steve Williams the tuning fork
Lightning conductor in midfield
But the men from the neat
And compact Dell
Basked in the tropical
Sunbeams of FA Cup
Final victory in 1976
A day against the world famous
Manchester United, one to
Place alongside Rishi’s treasure
Trove of fond football’s
Reminiscences
But surely before his recall
When the much loved and late
Bobby Stokes drilled his shot
Wide and beyond the helpless
Alex Stepney
Southampton the toast of the
South Coast
In that boiling summer of 1976
Oh what a summer
Heartfelt and sentimental as the
Rest of those neutral fans
Who loved the underdogs
The giant killers
The saintly congregation
Of Rishi’s flock
When Lawrie Mcmenemy
Stood tall and upright
Convinced of Southampton’s
Divine right
To be a team of stature,
Recognised as Wembley
Winners
FA Cup Final laurels
And blooming bouquets
Of celebratory pomp
Of May days of victory
Winners, glory glory
But now no more than
History’s distant companion
Clothed in gold
Southampton win the Cup
That sentence is like a Dickensian
Page oozing with old school charm
Sweetly pungent as the first cake
Of the day
Oh Rishi Sunak
The Saints
Wherever you go

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