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The Footballing Major

Andy Lockett

Sunday, April 2nd, 2006

1 Leave a comment on verse 1 0 A nondescript club in a backwater town,
Smothered in the industrial Midland smog.
Colours of the landscape, black and gold –
But out of darkness, came a guiding light
When the Major took over an ailing team
And made them into a footballing power.

2 Leave a comment on verse 2 0 Captained by Cullis, a half-back with style,
And panache, Buckley’s Wolf Cubs reached
New heights – runners-up in Cup, and League.
Players were traded, players were bought –
Moulded into a forceful, thrusting combination
Driving forward on muddy winter pitches.

3 Leave a comment on verse 3 0 Bryn Jones – a Welsh wing wizard – joined
Arsenal for £14,000; the locals unhappy,
But still Wolves advanced, given special
‘Monkey gland’ serum the papers said; in
Reality a flu jab, or two. Fitness, diet, physio;
Modern methods in an austere, unsure world.

4 Leave a comment on verse 4 0 He was a particular genius, this country gent
Who took Wanderers to the peak of pre-war
Soccer, laying strong foundations that brought
Glories galore in the years ahead – the Major
Built a stadium, a team and an ethos to last;
A man of greatness, on a par with Chapman.

© Andy Lockett 2006

Notes

Buckley’s – not Busby’s – were the first ‘Babes’; their full potential cut short by WW2.

Source: https://footballpoets.org/poems/the-footballing-major/