An Ode To Crawley Town FC 2023-24

Doom and gloom was the mood before a ball was kicked

To finish dead last was our fate all the experts picked

So many players gone, so many inexperienced new faces

No one knew who was going to play in which places

But we started with a win, then another and a draw

There we were in the table, sat in the top four

On the last day of September as we played we were able

To say that for seven short minutes we were top of the table

Then October came and a slide down did begin

As for the whole of the month we were unable to win

The winter months came full of ups and downs

One win, all smiles, followed by one loss and frowns

Then as the coldest spring came we began to hit form

And wins at home and more importantly away became the norm

By the start of April it was a playoff place we were in

Only for something akin to a golfer’s yips to begin

With one game left to play we dropped from seven to eight

And so out of our own hands was our promotion fate

The last game was won, the team had done their bit

Into the playoffs we went as one of our rivals took a hit

MK Dons were the opponents, a home three nil win

Away in dreamland, five one victory, get MK in the bin

Wembley here we come for the first time in our history

That tickets sold so fast was no kind of mystery

At Wembley the nerves are with us, it’s cagey, we score

Orsi, then Kelly, and it could well have been more

The final whistle goes, we have won and been promoted

What a way to end the season, feeling so elated.

Come on you reds.

Weighing Me Down

It was very heavy this morning

I suppose that could apply to many things

Not just all the excess soft tissue on my frame

Not just the dense bones of my frame

The atmosphere could be described as heavy

No sun, but it was warm, muggy, oppressive

Recent rain had washed the pollen off the trees

I could feel it invading every orifice

All of those could be considered as heavy

But it wasn’t any of them that was weighing me down

No it was my feelings doing that

A dread pushing down on my shoulders

Fear crushing against my internal organs

Apathy shattering the bones holding me together

Like I am now a primordial sludge

Wanting to seep away from this life

To be able to hibernate

Not for the winter like a hairy bear

But from the pressure enveloping me

Confidence, usually low, is now in negative

Block the world out with headphones and sunglasses

I can’t hear them talking about me

I can’t see them looking at me

Not that they are doing either

It’s just my fractured self, imagining it

I don’t want to deal with the world

No people, no nature, no concrete cells

No forced conversations, no phone, no e-mail, no skype

Just me curled up in a foetal position in bed

Just me and what’s inside my head

But is that wise?

Isn’t what is in there the thing that is making me this way?

Is it a self-fulfilling cycle I’m in?

Revolving around like in a wall of death

If I slow down I crash in a heap at the bottom

Yet if I could pick up my pace somehow

Speed up to the top and take off

And it’s a cycle no more

As I fly through the air

I’ve broken away in a straight line

I may fall to earth soon enough

But my spirit will have soared

Physical injuries can be healed in time

So why not the ones of the mind

The people may still look

They may still talk about me

But why should I let them worry me

If I am fine with myself and Helen is too

Then nothing else matters, that is all I need