Football Poets

The last day of the season

¶ 1 Leave a comment on verse 1 0 So there it is done and dusted
Season over,
Cruciate ligaments and
Hamstrings busted
Managers staring at the ground
Searching desperately for a pound
Liverpool enthroned as kings of England
The Premier League’s last pageant
Arne’s Anfield army
But certainly not barmy
By far the best,
When the ultimate test
Of Premier League rigours
Produced the figures
That really counted
Liverpool surmounted the challenge
That would never be beaten
Premier League champions
Par excellence
Red blankets of triumph
Spread across Merseyside
Like a tapestry of thoughts,
Images reaching fruition
They must have been convinced
It would never happen
Arsenal just panting and puffing
Behind the carnival of
Never dwindling hope and belief
The Gunners ran them ever so close
But just out of reach
Behind, the winners and runners up
Newcastle wrap up their campaign
From the Empyrean heights
Finally a Cup to cheer
The Carabao this time
First things first
Now the Champions League again
Geordies in clover
Deeply satisfied
Almost beside themselves
Despite being chewed up
By the Toffees of Everton
At St James’ Park
Villa, gazing over the
Oleander and honeysuckle
Of their enchanted balcony
European football
At Villa Park,
Next season
Now what would Doug Ellis
Have thought about that?
Chelsea’s fashonistas
Along the Kings Road
Jump onto the Champions League
Bus again, fares please
Enzo Maresca, destination
The top table of Europe’s finest
And sleekest
Dave Sexton would have
Been at his most philosophical
For he was the game’s most
Thoughtful of students
Manchester City
What is there to say?
Nothing, their season
Beyond description and
Comprehension
Champions League football
Admittedly but
A pale shadow of themselves
In fact bland and insipid
At times
Broken into their palace
By the South London gallants
Crystal Palace plunder and loot
The FA Cup from their grasp
Jewellery now shining brightly
In the Selhurst Park trophy cabinet
The Cherries of Bournemouth
Just miss out on their European expedition
No cake but make sure they enjoy
Their season of legendary
Cameo moments, treasure it for ever
Bees of Brentford
Always dripping with honey
At the GTech but nothing to show
Meanwhile at the bottom
Manchester United, Spurs and West Ham
Hide away in cupboards of aching
Humiliation, so stunned by degradation
Leicester, Ipswich and Southampton
Long since relegated to those
Downtrodden backwaters of the Championship,
Foxes still prowling but no teeth
Or backbone,
They’ll be back one day
Tractor Boys colliding with
Combine harvesters trampling them
Into the bowels of the second tier
And the Saints of Southampton
Committing the cardinal sin
Will Still, the new boss
Best of British, William
So that was
The Premier League
In a nutshell
Last day slaps on the back
Greek islands beckon
For our battered and bruised
Heroes and villains
Summer holidays gentlemen
No more weekly ego boosts
Time to don the shades
Mo Salah and Mikel Arteta
Beach shorts ready to hand
Time for recovery and rest
Recuperate.
Sun loungers in leisurely
Five star hotels
But let’s hear it for the
Clarets of Burnley
Hoping for a vintage season
From the start
Of the August cavalry charge
Rather than the sore heads
And horrendous heartbreak
Of relegation yet again
Last time around
Leeds back in the
Premier League headlights
Once again
They know the top flight
Like the back of their hand
Revie’s rampant band of
Talents from heaven
Champions of England twice
But only the dirty dungeons
Of League One in recent years
Now though restored to their
Rightful place
In the big time
And last but not least
The Mackems of Sunderland
Have resurfaced
Like the Phoenix from the Ashes
Where have they been?
Leafing through the photo album
Of 1973, when Bowie was but a
Spring chicken but always original
Oh that day of Cup Final elation
When Leeds threw the kitchen sink
At the Roker Park wall of
Plates and pans in full flight
Red and white stripes
Lofting the FA Cup to Wembley’s
Maturing spring skies
Sunderland nothing since then
But yesterday Black Cats chipper
And thrilled to see their
Geordie neighbours
Over the garden fence
It’s been a while
See you in the autumn
Reunited next season
Tyneside and Teesside
Bridging the gap of
Years gone past
What a season though
It was destined to last
And go to the wire
Memories enshrined
In perpetuity

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