My wife considers me totally mad for working oh, so hard,
To bring to life these stories, under my name, The Boro Bard,
But the website I’ve created brings to me tremendous pleasure,
And, according to the feedback, to many others, in no small measure.

Some things for me, in recent times, are becoming really hard,
Also for many Boro fans; not just The Boro Bard,
We’d the likes of Mannion, Hardwick, Clough; all Boro heroes, to a man,
Now the world is so much smaller and Boro so cosmopolitan.

I’m now into my seventies, a long-retired ‘Bobby,’
And I get great satisfaction from my recently found hobby,
Honestly, I’m not bothered if a player’s from Timbuktu,
If his heart is in The Boro to win, then that, for me, will do.

But when will The Boro come and for once to us announce,
That they’ve signed a player whose name we can actually pronounce?
Someone who speaks the language and who doesn’t cost the earth,
But who’s good enough and proudly supports the country of his birth.

The latest – Maccarone – means I’ll have to ring a friend,
For finding words to rhyme with it is driving me ‘round the bend,
With other names so difficult, matching’s quite out of the question,
But if anyone can help me then I’m open to suggestion.

We read of interest in Germany then in a player from Senegal,
This obsession with players foreign is driving some fans up the wall,
Once more the focus switches to yet another player from France,
And many players’ agents are leading us a merry dance.

Some transfer fees in recent times are best described as silly’ns,
With even very average ‘stars’ being offered for multi-millions,
They prance around and then demand to be treated just like royalty,
Then when the going is looking tough, they show no sense of loyalty.

Another ongoing situation that is really still quite fuzzy,
Involves another foreign man; a Turk, whose name is Muzzy,
If the offer is the right one, he surely won’t dismiss it,
And that, for Boro, is really great, though some might say, “or Izzet?”

When the chips are down it matters not if we sign Frenchmen or Sicilians,
Amazingly, some fans think it’s good to re-hire ‘old’ Brazilians,
All I ask is that we find, before the season starts,
Players, it matters not from where, with Boro in their hearts.

One recent transfer in that really doesn’t worry me,
Is the man on loan from Cameroon, whose name is Geremi,
So now with the new season very soon beginning,
Perhaps we fans can think again, of finally, finally winning.