IM. BOBBY CHARLTON 

 
 
 
 
 
                                                                                                                                                  
b. Oct 1937 d. Oct 2023
 
To BOY BASTIN and ALEX JAMES of THE ARSENAL
whom I’ve heard about many many times 
from my dad
To ‘ACE’ HASKOW of BARNET
who had a Wing Commander’s moustache
and flew down the wing like a Spitfire
and was 
‘The best footballer in the world’
for a very short time
To ‘BALDY HOGAN’ of BURHILL UNITED
who never gave up 
and probably still plays every week 
in the pages of the ‘Adventure’ magazine
To FRANK SWIFT of MANCHESTER CITY
who was killed incredibly 
in the Munich air crash
To BILLY STEEL of DERBY COUNTY
who still volleys the ball
from the pages of my
‘Stanley Matthews Football album’
for 1949
To STANLEY MATTHEWS of BLACKPOOL
whom I watched every time he came to London
because I knew he was
‘The Best Footballer in the world’
To the entire SPURS TEAM of 1951
who were my 
‘LILYWHITE BOYS’
and signed my autograph book
at a cricket match
To LEN SHACKLETON of SUNDERLAND
who was magical player
on his good days
and I once saw him on a good day
To FERENC PUSKAS and the HUNGARIAN TEAM 
who toppled our heroes in 1953
and changed everything
To MANCHESTER UNITED
who were slaughtered at Munich
and I couldn’t believe it
’til I got home from junior school
and listened to the radio
To the SPURS TEAM of 1961
who were very nearly as good
as the  SPURS TEAM of 1951 
To EUSEBIO da SILVA FERREIRA of PORTUGAL
who nearly won the World Cup by himself
To BOBBY CHARLTON of MANCHESTER UNITED
whose high-stepping gallop
and thunderbolt shooting
is one of the great sights of English football
 
with
respect
incredible envy
and love
from Jeff Cloves
 
1966
 
 
NOTE
this poem was first published
in the football edition of my magazine Poetsdoos in 1967
to celebrate England winning the World Cup
‘Poetsdoos’ is a Dutch word
(pronounced Pootsdos I believe) 
meaning shoe shine box
and was a nod to The Provos
a bunch of environmental anarchists in Amsterdam
who launched the Free White Bicycles campaign
 
 
 
 
 
 
.
 
 

Jeff Cloves. 

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