Rotherham, we step into the carriage
“Move down, mate!”
An instruction, not request
The bloke looks astonished
That he is being asked
To go further along 
Into the acres of space behind him

“Welcome to Northern Trains”
You mean, welcome to a two-carriage train
That has come from the Meadowhall Centre
Just before Christmas
When Sheffield United had played too
Connecting three football towns
To a major railway junction
On a Saturday afternoon
At five o’clock

Crammed together
Hands raised above elbows
Out of decency
The last space looks taken
When some Pompey lads
Squeeze in, push in, are helped in
Knowing that the elasticity of the collective
Human form
Always finds more room

The doors roll to close, reopen, close again
The driver on the spitting loudspeaker
“Will customers stand away from t’doors.”
To amusement, bemusement and a laugh
“Yeah, right!”

The lads hang together
Even when so drunk
Or maybe because so
They won’t abandon any of their gang 
Not one left behind
Look at him. He would fall
If we were not so sardine tight
Covid-concious, anxious
at such close companionship

Smelling of lager, beer, whisky, pies
Sweat of shirts, aftershave
Oh Jeezuss. Who was has let one go?

We travelled like this
To Wembley in May 2010
All the way from Fareham
With a looky-likely Al-Fayed
Laughing every step of the way
Still flying after beating Spurs that April
Believing we might beat Chelski too

But we’re not laughing now
In Rotherham
We lost four - one
Out-played, out-fought
Out-thought
Resentment towards our manager
Antipathy for their No 9

How can he be so good for them
When he was so crap in blue?
Today, his movement, strength, pace
Hunger for goals a revelation
Which was why we signed him
Back then

Barry says, “It’s always the way.”
No one disagrees

After the door delay
we are hauled away
Juddering, swaying, clinging on
Held together by courtesies and stoicism
Regardless of the cynical
Profit before people, 
Privatised railway
Masquerading as public service

The two carriage Northern Train
Shuddered out of the station
Coughing diesel fumes
over the platform as it filled again
With our fellows
Disappointed penguins
huddled tight in the Antarctic gloom
of another football season
CLP
14th October, 2023