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Where are we now Stan?

Peter Goulding

Sunday, October 8th, 2006

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“Where are we now, Eoin?” the football scribes wrote,
As we slipped to another defeat.
“Here is your hat, mate, and here is your coat,
And there is the door to the street.
You’ve taken the team ‘bout as far as you could,
But the future just doesn’t look bright.
It’s time that we had new injection of blood,
Stage directions are ‘Exit Stage Right.’”
1995
“So where are we now, Jack?” the headlines enquired
As the Dutch once again shot our dreams.
“Your squad’s getting old and you look very tired.
The side needs revamping, it seems.
You’ve taken the team to the mountain and back,
But can we re-scale former heights?
You said you’d resign ere we gave you the sack,
Now it’s time for your funeral rites.”
2002
So where are we now, Mick?” the tabloid heads screamed,
With our Euro hopes mauled by the Swiss.
“Results are not up to the levels we’d dreamed –
We should be doing better than this!
Saipan showed your failings –it’s hard to forget –
We should have whipped Spain in Korea.
We’ve been having a bit of an oul’ tête-á- tête
It’s time you were leaving, we fear.”
2005
“So where are we now, Brian?” the papers demanded,
As our hopes disappeared down the drain.
You’ve reversed our direction, almost single-handed –
Where once there was hope, now there’s pain.
The team has no passion, we’re way off the pace,
We’ve slipped even more down the list.
So thanks for your efforts, you ran a good race,
But our former heroics are missed.”
2006
“So where are we now, Stan?” the whole nation yelled.
“Have we struck the rock bottom at last?
Look how our country by Cyprus is felled.
Are World Cups a thing of the past?
The world is a circle, we’ve come a long way,
A journey not for the faint-hearted.
No need now to answer where we are today –
We’re back at the place where we started.”

© Peter Goulding 8th October 2006

Notes

Written for the Baffle Poetry Competition 2006 after Ireland’s embarrassing destruction by mighty Cyprus

Source: http://footballpoets.org/poems/where-are-we-now-stan/