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To Sky Blue Heroes (A Toast to the ‘Holy Trinity’)

Phil Brennan

Tuesday, April 28th, 2026

1 Leave a comment on verse 1 0  

2 Leave a comment on verse 2 0 At a table of blue where the floodlights still gleam,
Three kings of a city, the soul of a dream.
Colin Bell, ever-gliding, the ghost in the field,
Francis Lee, fierce and fiery, unyielding, unsealed.
Mike Summerbee, winged wonder with mischief and grace,
Together they gather, time cannot erase.

3 Leave a comment on verse 3 0 The glasses are raised in a sky-tinted glow,
As echoes of Maine Road drift soft and low.
The terraces murmur, the old chants return,
For battles once fought and the passion that burned.
League titles and cups, their spoils of the game,
Each victory etched beside City’s proud name.

4 Leave a comment on verse 4 0 Colin leans forward, so quiet, so wise,
With thunderous runs still alight in his eyes.
“I moved like a shadow, unseen yet so near,
Each stride for the shirt, for the fans’ mighty cheer.”
Franny just grins, with a spark still alive,
“A scrap and a goal, that’s how we’d survive!
They kicked and they chased, but I’d never concede,
For fire’s what drove me, a relentless need.”
And Mike, with a chuckle, his charm shining through,
Recalls every cross that the Maine Road wind blew.
“I danced down the flank, let the full-backs despair,
With a wink and a turn, I’d be gone in a flare.
But it wasn’t just skill, it was heart, it was pride,
The joy of the game with you both at my side.”

5 Leave a comment on verse 5 0 Their laughter rings out like a Saturday roar,
A sound that old Maine Road still longs to restore.
The pitch may be gone, but the spirit remains,
In blue-blooded hearts and in Manchester rains.
Statues and stories may weather with time,
But here they are living, in rhythm, in rhyme.

6 Leave a comment on verse 6 0 A trinity bonded by more than the game,
By loyalty, passion, and City’s fair name.
So lift up your glass to those days shining bright,
To sky blue heroes who danced in the light.
For though years may pass and new legends take stage,
Their glory still lives on each memory’s page.

Notes

As a young boy in a troubled household in the 60s I was often ‘farmed out’ to an aunt’s house in Chorlton cum Hardy, whilst my mum and stepdad sorted out their lives.
Rather than remembering this as a sad time in my life I always remember that this was the period that inspired my love of writing and in particular writing about football. Aunt Constance had a television (something that we didn’t have) but more importantly she ran a guest house for young journalists. I would spend hours listening to them sitting and discussing the games that they had covered. I even got to go to several games during this period, Old Trafford some weeks, Maine Road on others. My first ever trip to my beloved Edgeley Park came courtesy of one of the journalists too.
I have written many poems about my County journey but during a discussion with an old friend about our earliest memories I wrote a poem about United trio Best, Law and Charlton (A Toast to The Trinity). The fact that I had witnessed that trio in their prime one week and Bell, Lee and Summerbee in their prime the following week had been lost on me somewhat. With that in mind I felt it only fair that I redressed the balance…

Source: https://footballpoets.org/poems/to-sky-blue-heroes/