I’ve always loved sport, particularly football. I wanted to write a poem about this moment because for me it captured everything that is magical about sport.
It only happens once
Only when the stars align
The constellations bending
A precious point in time
When all the hopes and dreams
Cruel defeats and expectation
Enmesh and coalesce
Into one night
Of pure elation
Why heart, do you fail me
At such a distant pain
It is only the football
We can’t win every game
But the hope that I have nurtured
Extinguishes so fast
Our dim and distant victories
Fade into the past
Why heart, do you fail me
When I know it matters not
If life is so much more
Why does this game
Mean such a lot. You see,
Les Ferdinand has scored
One-nil down, a must win game
I can’t believe we’re losing
It feels like such a shame
To sit high in the North Stand
And witness our demise
The league is ours if we can win
I can’t believe my eyes
But there it is, we’re one-nil down
And half time is on the way
When up steps David Beckham
To send us on the way
To bend it home right footed
Top corner, what a hit
The stadium explodes
It feels like this is it
There’s a buzz of nervous energy
So close now we can feel it
The future is our history
One goal now will reveal it
Will open up our eyes
To an unknowable hope
A far off distant pinnacle
Beyond this barren slope
We’ll take each step together
Each step towards our goal
As the ball falls oh so slowly
To the feet of Andy Cole
And he lifts it over Walkers head
And turns to greet the cheers
The mountain rears closer
The sum of all our fears
To reach the far horizon
To reach the promised land
Only to fail and falter
To overplay our hand
And fall right at the last
With one hand on the peak
This is our only chance
Just two more games next week
The FA cup on Saturday
And then the one that matters
The one that if we lose
Will leave all our dreams in tatters
The Champions League Final
The biggest game of all
The Nou Camp, Barcelona
We will ascend or we will fall
A few days pass unnoticed
White noise between the games
We’ll either win the FA Cup
Or come crashing down in flames
It’s the penultimate battle
Of this fairytale quest
And we face the brave Newcastle
It’s North East versus North West
The Toon and the Red Devils
Will fight until the death
And every fan United
Will be holding their breath
In great anticipation
Of a famous victory
To lift the famous trophy
On the steps of Wembley
It’s written in the stars
Perhaps it’s meant to be
With goals from Scholes and Sheringham
We beat them easily
And now we’ve done the double
But that’s been done before
Now we’re hungry for the big one
We’re hungry for one more
Bayern Munich lie in wait
Across the shining sea
Fly away to Catalonia
Because it’s time for number three
Noone wins the treble
They say it can’t be done
I’m sitting in my lounge now
With my dad and with my mum
And with my girlfriend Susanna
Who really doesn’t care
But she knows enough to grip my hand
She knows she should be there
The tension builds to kick off
This Munich side is strong
We’ll have to play our hearts out
Or this will all go wrong
Our midfield’s shot to pieces
No Scholesy and no Keane
I feel a bit uneasy at what
All of this might mean
The game starts and it’s tense
We can’t settle our nerves
With just five minutes gone
Mario Basler neatly swerves
A low free-kick past Schmeichel’s dive
A brutal onslaught from the Germans
There’s no way we can survive
My head drops
I can’t believe it
We’ve come so far
But won’t achieve it
To journey all this way
To set the world alight
To battle to the last
But to lose the final fight
We will lose the final fight
We’re at the barrel of the gun
So squarely in their sites
Munich have us on the run
We can’t compete
We’re just not on it
I so hoped we could have won it
But the time ticks slowly by
And we don’t recover from it
It’s one-nil at half time
It’s one-nil on the hour
Munich hit the post
And the stories turning sour
They hit the post again
And then they hit the bar
We could be four-nil down
But it’s one-nil, and here we are
With one minute to go
So desperately frustrating
My confidence is lost
My hope evaporating
I close my eyes and think
Of those who came before
Duncan Edwards, David Pegg
Charlton, Best and Law
I think of Norman Whiteside
Of Mark Hughes and Paul Mcgrath
I think of Bryan Robson
And I think of Cantona
A thousand fierce warriors
Whose time has sadly passed
The heroes of another day
Still heroes till the last
But they did not win the treble
They did not get the chance
And now even these Red Devils
Are dancing their last dance
Because noone wins the treble
And no-one wins a game
With ninety minutes gone
And the score line still the same
One-Nil to Bayern Munich
Only seconds left to play
United have a corner
There might just be a way
Beckham’s just about
To take the last roll of the dice
My heart is in my mouth
But his delivery is precise
Schmeichel nearly gets a header
But the ball is sliced away
A shot gets driven in
And it’s deflected on the way
It’s the faintest little touch
But it lifts me off my feet
It’s a goal for Teddy Sheringham
The relief is just so sweet
And I can’t believe my eyes
That we’ve got back to one all
I guess now it’s extra time
But then I see we’ve got the ball
And deep in the Munich half
We win a corner, near side
My heart a hammer in my chest
My eyes are open wide
Emotions scattered everywhere
And suddenly I feel
That this just might be happening
This just might be for real
Beckham puts the ball down
He runs towards it now
His right foot hits the leather
And then it seems somehow
That as the corner swings and dips
Onto Sheringham’s forehead
I see destiny approaching
As if the future can be read
As if Solskjaer’s outstretched leg
Had been there since time began
As if fate had had its say
And decided that this man
Would bring victory
And that is what he’s done
We leap onto the floor
Me, my dad, my mum
My family embrace
My girlfriend isn’t sure
What just happened in this room
And why we’re all on the floor
Noone wins the treble
Unless everything goes right
Like it did for this United
Like it did this special night
It only happens once
Only when the stars align
The constellations bending
A precious point in time
When all the hopes and dreams
Cruel defeats and expectation
Enmesh and coalesce
Into one night
Of pure elation
It only happens once
Only when the stars align
So thank god for Ole Solskjaer
And thank god for Fergie Time
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