Ex Stokie Hooligan has taken to writing poetry

A selection of Ian's poems

Fortress
The Britannia is packed to the rafters,
Young and old, meek and bold, but everyone’s sold on Pulis’s grafters;
The loudest fans in the country scream,
For 23 seasons this had just been a dream;
Now it’s here for real in its cold-stark reality,
It’s backs to the wall with a siege mentality;
Go on Stoke Go on Stoke, the Boothen End roars,
And for many, tears in eyes, they take it in and they pause;
Multi-million pound players in red and white shirts,
Putting heads where only feet dare go;
All up for the fight, don’t care if it hurts,
Only one aim for us for now;
Survival and pride,
This is our fortress, where no-one shirks or hides;
The mighty will fall here, bemoan our style and their rotten luck,
So to Wenger and the others, OI! This is the Potteries, duck;
For we are Stoke City and though many of them slate us,
We’ll put our lives on the line for our Premier League status;

The Wizard of The Dribble
The wizard of the dribble, that’s what they called our Stan,
A son of the fighting barber, and there wasn’t a nicer man;
A star that glowed, a genius to the core,
And everyday he spent on earth the people loved him more;
Gracious as a racehorse, clean as a new pin,
If Stanley was on our side, then we would surely win;
The all-time greatest winger that the human race produced,
The way Sir Stanley lived his life must have given God a boost;
He wore his heart on his red and white sleeves,
Now the nation mourns and his home town grieves;
An ordinary man full of good from young to old,
If you’re making anymore angels God, Stanley Matthews fits the mould.

A Beautiful Friendship
I was four foot tall and I was climbing this wall,
So I didn’t get sucked into the sea;
It swelled and swayed,
And rushed a wave, that damn near swallowed me;
As I reached the top someone pulled me up,
And I slumped exhausted safe on high;
It was the start of a beautiful friendship,
The Boothen End and I.

http://www.whydelilah.co.uk/news/15_May_2009/Potters+poet+has+internet+fanbase.html

need I say any more