Farewell to José
Expecting an avalanche of posts on this topic .. sadly.
It’s so hard to say goodbye to a winner.
As Simon & Garfunkle would say … the sound of …
How do you write a poem with no words?
Consider the Special One now, as
The Silent One
——————
© Maureen Yeo
Unbelievable!
Shocking!
Horrendous!
Speechless 🙁
———————————————————————————
Surprised? Nah Not Really.
It shouldn’t really come as a shock
If we’re realistic, stand back and take stock
That last season and this. our managers seen fit
To rage a personal vendetta agin his boss.
Great managers get judged on results
Not by trading in tacky tabloid insults
Agin our board, the FA, Arjen Robben
So they, should maybe get on with their jobs and just coach?
Mourhino took his eye off the ball
Die hard Blues fans predicted he’d fall
Team morale suffered at each insult muttered
Stars have feelings – are human beings after all.
No sour grapes or hard cheese, now he’s gone
The self proclaimed extra special one
When all’s said and done true blues fans will have sung
Thanks For The Memories. What then? We move on!
The only permanant fixture at most clubs
Be they rich, poor or skint is us mugs
Who follow the team through the times fat or lean
So a manager’s left us. Come next Sundays tough test.
We’ll be there cheering them on with our chanting and songs
Cos CFC after all is…. Our Team!
———–
© Kev 2007
Thanks For The Memories Jose. We’ll treasure them forever.
And Good Luck in your next job.
peace
kev
——————————————————————————–
Managing a haiku
Football managers –
cast in bronze, win silverware.
others go for gold
——————-
© S B Ingle 20.9.07
Chelsea did not fill their stadium, Abramovich seems to be fulfilling his dream of running a puppet show and Jose has pockets full of money.
A man like Jose needs his freedom to be happy, and this he now has.
‘Special’ is defined in the dictionary as ‘individual’, ‘distinct’. So, Jose was special and brought something different to the Premiership party. Now we’re back to the yawning board…
——————————————————————————–
Without Mourinho
without Mourinho
the blue revolution can end
before it has hardly begun
without Mourinho
as with the 1910s 20s 30s 40s 50s 60s 70s 80s and 90s
normal unpredictable underachieving football at Chelsea
will resume as soon as possible
without Mourinho
Scottish prime ministers
wil not comment when managers leave
because normally they disappear or move on un-noticed…
unlike politicians
without Mourinho
post-match interviews can revert to stuff like
“everyone gets on here at the club”
“there’s a good feeling in the camp”
“the lads done well ”
and ..” we can still go away with heads held high
and learn something from today”
without Mourinho
I am back in 2003
thinking what nice cardboard cut-out managers
Docherty, Blanchflower, Porterfield, Neal,
Hoddle, Gullit, Vialli, Ranieri and all were
and what lovely crazy flambouyant football we played
but how we’d still never won the league
except with Drake and you
without Mourinho
second third and fourth officials
can sleep easy regardless of decisions
or laptop monitor images proffered from the dugout
without Mourinho
the other big three will gloat and scorn
but remember this
they can never take away the old Shed wall
even after Roman has gone
because it’s a listed building…allegedly!
without Mourinho
all terrier dogs will obey quarantine rules
apparently
without Mourinho
grey Armani coats will look ordinary and naff
and Emenegildo Zegna raincoats will fade like summer
and re-appear at car boot sales for a fiver
without Mourinho
facial expressions
smouldering George Clooney type hang dog looks
that say everything
and scream hello I’m sexy and gorgeous – even to blokes
will vanish overnight
without Mourinho
alleged phone lines to ‘special ones’
under Portuguese training staff hats
at Champions League games
will not be necesary
without Mourinho
managers of Barcelona
will be able to stay in their dressing room at half time
and not worry that they might be accused
of going into the ref’s one by mistake
without Mourinho
omelettes will be eaten in honour
of his last main statement on eggs
and Chelsea will become a yolk again
without Mourinho
9.19 will be a date
all true Blues fans will commemorate
in tears of joy sadness and anger
without Mourinho
GQs runners up for best dressed man of the year award
is totally up for grabs and I’ve got this feeling I could be lucky
without Mourinho
all hand jive instructions
and Latin exhortations from dug-outs will become passé
and will be blasted for being oh so José-esqe
without Mourinho
we will survive in the Premiership
but never truly understand the meaning of
“leaving by mutual consent”
even after looking it up as the departed one suggested
without Mourinho
will we ever again see back to back trophies
roll up at the Bridge
like the proverbial two buses that arrive together
after waiting fifty years ?
without Mourinho
lovelorn female callers
will no longer besiege the BBC
with confirmation of his attraction
beyond managerial achievements
without Mourinho
I’ve lost a connection
even though I only ever stood by you once
in the press room
but was afraid to speak
such was your vibe..
without Mourinho
as one wise writer said..
we’ve lost Hugh Grant but gained Avram Grant
without Mourinho
the blue revolution can end
before it has even begun…
sad then
we never got the chance
to say goodbye to you
at a game
——–
© CT07
Thanks José for all you brought us and above all your unbelievable ATTITUDE! ……however hated Chelsea have become..(and now the laughing stock no doubt) I will never forget flying out of London airport once past a giant ad of you in that suit and that phone..proclaiming ..”.you can’t manage without one..”
and then flying into Porto airport to see the first ad on arrival was exactly the same one… except it was in Portuguese. Likewise at Fulham Broadway …great days and nights mate…and always the fire and passion. Man U Arsenal, Liverpool, Spurs, West Ham, Fulham and all other premier clubs look away now..or read on and cringe.
“I pictured a rainbow
you held it in your hands
I had flashes
but you saw the plan
*we took it all in The Shed for years
you came and lifted the gloom*
I saw the crescent
You saw the whole of the moon
The whole of the moon…
You were there in the turnstiles
with the wind at your heels
you stretched for the stars
and you know how it feels
to reach too high, too far, too soon
You saw the whole of the moon”
c.The Waterboys/Mike Scott (adapted*)
(* 2 asterisked lines adapted ..sorry Mike and Steve..)
——————————————————————————
Old News
So Mourinho has left the bridge. José goes
where the music takes him. And how many
of those Chelsea players will try
to become tomorrow’s managers? Like those
on the pitch wavelength
with Brian Howard Clough and Sir Fergie.
At least one has played for both.
There’s only one Clarko though, like
when City needed two Summerbees
and Frank said you can’t have wingers
when you’ve got Kinkladze in the team.
© John Cox 22 September 07
——————————————————————————
Roman Knows
Ultimate hatchet job
from stony faced Roman,
more or less forcing Jose
to fall on his sword.
No longer special,
Mourinho quips his way
out of Chelsea,
thanking fans, players, teachers
everyone bar the Russian.
Premiership will be the poorer:
no more amateur dramatics,
nor arm-waving histrionics,
no more kisses blown
to the masses,
no more fingers pressed
to lips to hush the fans,
no more post-match interviews
both charismatic and enigmatic,
from the touchline
knuckles gnawed no more.
No More Rinho.
© mark merriman sept 2007
I for one will miss Mourinho as he brought a great deal both to Chelsea and the Premiership. With him life was ceratainly never dull; can’t help wondering whether Roman will come to regret meddling in team affairs. Was he the only one clapping when Shevchenko was subbed at Old Trafford?!
——————————————————————————
Red07 : 06 : Mourinho-less
It was like filleting fish
They were totally at our mercy
In disarray and disunited
They shoulda listened to Jimmy Pursey *
‘Twas their own ticking bomb
That blew them so brusquely outta the water
Such easy pickings for us
Like seals to the slaughter
——————
© Ron Aldo 😉
*
If the Kids are United –
They will never, be div-ided
Sham 69, fronted by Jimmy Pursey
~#~
Sunday 23rd September 2007
Man Utd 2 – 0 Chelsea
Chelsea’s first match post José Mourinho
About This Site
Welcome to Football Poets -- a club for all football poets, lovers of football and lovers of (alternative) poetry. Discover poets in every league from respected internationals at the top of their game to young hopefuls in the school playground.
Publish your football poems here and then discuss them with your team mates and fans. We're archived by The British Library, so your masterpieces are in the safe hands of a world-class keeper. What a result!
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Crispin’s Corner
In Memoriam
Kick It Out & Christmas Truce
Latest Comments
5th December 2022 at 8:11 pm
Stuart, you are not alone, in your dichotomy of doubt
but without dissention
you stand alone
in hogging our attention!
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16th November 2022 at 11:04 am
[Football on soiled turf]
This is a wonderful phrase which I shall be using from now on!
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15th November 2022 at 3:54 pm
Well said Crispin. One of the reasons for The Ball 2022/23 is exactly this – that FIFA need to know. The Ball is essentially a petition to FIFA to honour their commitments to the UN Sports for Climate Action Framework. They signed up; they should act. The Qatar tournament takes the World Cup in the opposite direction to that commitment. And 2026 looks like it’ll be even worse.
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8th November 2022 at 2:06 pm
Hi Guys
Re ‘Lets Boycott Qatar ‘ poem
You probably hate me banging on..and problably know (like me) that my/your not watching the World Cup in Qatar will make no difference.
Of course it won’t. That’s not the point.
OK someone might possibly eventually publish a minimal drop in terrestrial TV viewer numbers, but I fear that is unlikely.
But please above all, do go on writing poems about the World Cup, as/you we have always done. I hate to think a poem or two of mine might l make you feel bad about comenting on a game or country …or that I’ve put you all off about wanting to contribute.
So we’d love to hear from you and read your thoughts and observations, as ever on what’s going on.
Some of us have been here since Football Poets website birth/inception for the Euros 2000 ….
All my best wishes
Crispin
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18th October 2022 at 10:06 am
Shoot! (Something we’ve also been screaming in vain at our team all season !)
Great memories Joe . Before Shoot, it was Roy of the Rovers comic too, dropping through my letterbox.
Anxiously waiting each week to see if they survived in the mexcian jungle after an ambush..or a pre-season earthquake!
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3rd October 2022 at 8:32 pm
Thanks for the kind words Sharon. Yes, it was a shame with Billy Shako, but with five subs now being allowed, he might yet make it off the bench. Even if it’s just a cameo to close out a poem.
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2nd October 2022 at 1:49 pm
John, your new book is an absolute delight and more please. It’s a shame ‘Swapping Shirts With Shakespeare’ never made it off the bench, but quality football poets light up the writing fields like Roman candles. Go well.
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4th September 2022 at 12:42 pm
Great memories Greg. Took me right back.
Today I stand on a small terrace in the hills where I live watching Forest Green Rovers in L1, and keep up with Chelsea on highlights. It’s a far cry and a world away from those times when I lived as a child within walking distance of ‘The Bridge’ – just off the Ifield Road, which led to Fulham Road. The Blues were rubbish for so long, but we loved them and somehow we stayed in the old First Division for so many seasons. And of course we got to see Greavesie at his impudent best, scoring goals for fun. Mad unpredictable games where we’d score 4 and let in five.
The looming floodlights in the dark and mist on magic night games. The big games when the ground heaved.
I don’t think we ever realized how magical and incredible it was back then. The atmosphere and arriving there so early – like you said.. just to make sure you got in. Back when Bovril, tea and cake and roasted peanuts for sixpence a back were just about all on offer.
Good times.
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4th September 2022 at 12:37 pm
see above
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18th August 2022 at 10:20 am
To put it politely!
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