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Friday, 19 January 2018

The Beautiful Game

The Beautiful Game (or shopping for a bargain in the transfer window)

I know that January’s not meant to be sunny,
And I’m really not trying to be funny,
But these transfer fees
Are more than a wheeze.
Just think what else we could do with the money.

For this country’s exceedingly broke,
And it’s likely to make us all choke.
Football has gone mad,
I’d even say bad,
And it’s getting beyond any joke.

They pay the stars for their fame,
But these mercenaries don’t understand shame.
They take what they can,
They ignore all the fans,
It’s no longer the beautiful game.

They’re paying these guys huge weekly wages,
As you can read in the newspaper pages.
With a marketing deal
The bargain to seal,
And they pay in five easy stages.

If only we could get credit as easy this way,
And get our wealthy backers to pay.
You’ll Never Walk Alone,
Up there in the zone,
Where the pay-back is so far away.

And what’s all the talk in the dressing-room?
For lesser players – a feeling of gloom.
For the big stars,
In their flash cars,
Inspire in the rest of us a portent of doom.

In the world of back-handers & bungs,
It’s the agents who climb up the rungs.
A pay-off in millions,
The billions & trillions,
And the Press Office talking in tongues.

And despite each massive fee,
Of more goals there’s no guarantee.
I’d sing a new tune,
I’d be over the moon,
If only more passion I could see.

But out there on the pitch & the park,
Things are looking increasingly stark.
Another nil-nil draw,
Is a bit of a bore,
For the fans who are kept in the dark.

For the Premier League make their own law,
As other clubs remain on the floor,
A game of two halves,
Where some of them starve,
With not enough cash through the door.
  
What happened to just local teams?
Where winning the Cup filled our dreams?
It’s no longer there,
And nobody cares.
It’s become just a business, it seems.

It took a hundred years just to build.
Many’s the crowd that it’s thrilled.
It’s a funny old game,
But it just ain’t the same,
Now it seems that with TV it’s killed.

So how can we stem this incoming tide?
How to get back football’s old pride?
Well, I may be a fool,
But I know the rule,
And I’m flagging this one “bang off-side”.


Copyright Andy Fawthrop 2018

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