Charting the Week in Football 8

As the domestic and European seasons come to an end, I leave you with a bumper selection of charts and graphs covering the stats that tell different stories for some teams' seasons, the anonymous footballer, an anonymous (and expensive) striker, rent-a-quote managers, Teflon Blatter, the truth about Premiership relegation, the composition of Scottish football and a conundrum for Jeff.

There may be a few intermittent Charting the Weeks over the Summer if the stories warrant it and if you the readers want it. Until then, enjoy these.......

Coming later this week: A new series for the Summer as various writers select their own "My Dislikable XI"

 

If you want a recap of the seven previous weeks of charts:

Week 1

Week 2

Week 3

Week 4

Week 5

Week 6

Week 7

Football Poems for World Poetry Day

This post is part 6 of a blog carnival for World Poetry Day. To view poems by other bloggers, search on http://www.twitter.com or http://www.google.co.uk/realtime for WPDfootballpoems. Already we have had contributions from 

http://theseventytwo.com/  
http://www.thetwounfortunates.blogspot.com/ 
http://footballhobo.wordpress.com/
http://sahafromthemaddingcrowd.blogspot.com/  
http://ryanahubbard.wordpress.com/2011/03/21/the-lows-of-an-addiction/ 

Next up at 3pm - http://www.thehandofblog.blogspot.com/ followed each hour after by    http://richardandneilsfootballblog.blogspot.com/ 
http://www.footballfairground.com/ 
http://northernleagueday.wordpress.com/ 
http://endtoendstuff.wordpress.com/


Two-Nil Up, Three-Two Down
(A Tuesday night at Glanford Park) 

I wandered lonely in a crowd
my mind numb, no emotion shown.
A dark, satanic, grumbling cloud,
Amongst the hosts' golden glows.
Beside corrugated roof and concrete walls,
blanking out their joyous calls.

Early stages and we did shine
And twinkle like the Milky Way
Iron stretched in never-ending line
could not keep the Blades at bay.
Four thousand saw two taken chances,
one thousand joined in sprightly dances.

Prospects were looking up; but the Blades
were outdone in sparkling waves of glee:
No-one there could predict
the way it was going to be.
I gazed -and gazed- but little thought
made any sense of what I saw.

That night, post-match, at home I lie
In vacant and in pensive mood
Emotions of football flash past my inward eye
Ecstasy, bliss, despair, solitude.
But my heart, with joy and hope, it does swell,
To Saturday, more football heaven and hell.

Ian Rands

With sincere apologies to William Wordsworth



Sheffield Football - A Haiku

Once proud edifice
Foundations crumbling away
Falling down, a wreck

Neil Warnock - A Haiku

They call you Colin
Even though a Blades fan, I
can understand why


Ian Rands