Lighthearted rhymes about Brighton & Hove, Sussex, football, and life as a Brit on the Great Plains of Oklahoma. Via a Hoveite of 30+ years. 🇬🇧🇺🇸 ⚽️
#BHAFC
THE PHONE CALL THAT CHANGED MY LIFE: A PERSONAL STORY ABOUT THE ALBION THAT I'VE NEVER SHARED BEFORE…
It was late March 2009 – just shy of 15 years ago - and I was at my desk in the offices of the company I worked for near Hove Station when my phone rang.
On the other end of
A YOUNG LAD WHO HAS JUST BEEN TERRIBLY ADVISED
If Chelsea don’t bid,
He’ll be up a creek,
Stranded without a paddle,
And the future bleak.
Having rejected Liverpool,
And annoyed us too,
Moises I’d sack your agent,
If I were you.
#bhafc
I’ve certainly appreciated all the concern and good wishes from
@CelticFC
fans after O’Riley’s injury.
I think it shows we have been lucky enough to secure not only a great footballer but also a lad who had become very highly respected up there.
Cheers
#CelticFC
💚👍🏻
Hey, Newcastle,
We know you have plans,
But please can you stop nicking,
All our Dans?
(I hope they are both as good for you as they were for us. ☺️)
#BHAFC
#NUFC
ADMIRATION FOR CELTIC FANS ☘️🤝
You come across as such decent fans
Let’s not be strangers.
So much concern for O’Riley
(Seems less so from Rangers. 🤷🏻♂️😏)
#CelticFC
💚
SICKENING
I can only assume it was the jealousy & insecurity that comes with the knowledge that he’ll never make this level of the game that drove him to this.
Jay Williams.
A pathetic little man.
A TRUE PRO AND A CREDIT TO THE CLUB
After full-time and as the boys left the pitch yesterday, this guy was beaming, high-fiving everyone and evidentially as delighted as anyone with the result.
And he didn’t even get to play this week.
Hats off Jason. 👊🏻💙
SOLIDARITY WITH READING FANS 💙
Tonight at the Amex
And we stand as one
We had awful owners once
And it wasn’t fun.
Many times
We thought the end was nigh
And just like us
Reading mustn’t Dai.
#BHAFC
#ReadingFC
@SellBeforeWeDai
Hope all you Mariners,
Got back alright,
And great to meet so many of you,
In the pub last night,
Fantastic supporters,
Did Grimsby proud,
Waving Haddocks,
And bloody loud!
(The atmosphere in town last night was just brilliant. Huge respect.
#gtfc
)
With QPR two up against Leeds, I want to wish all
@IpswichTown
supporters the best of luck with your two games in hand.
My first ever top-flight match was in ‘81 watching Bobby Robson managing your special side and it would be great to see you in the Prem. 👍🏻
#itfc
#ipswichtown
MITOMA CHANT?
(To ‘My Old Man’s a Dustman.)
“Oh, I love Mitoma
I really am a fan
He petrifies all right-backs
Does our winger from Japan.
Now playing for us Seagulls
In Sussex by the Sea
And no you can’t afford him
As 200 mill would be the fee.
La, la, la, la, la, la, la….”
“Fucking shit”, “Pervis is a clown”, “Why did Potter change the fucking team.”, “embarrassing to watch”.
I tell you what’s embarrassing…
…reading these kind of comments from ‘fans’.
Struggling to be light-hearted tonight with these mugs around on Twitter.
We’re 4th
#bhafc
To see Veltman wearing a grin as big as a Cheshire cat running off the bench to celebrate next to the corner flag with Solly is truly a thing of beauty.
#bhafc
This guy put in a HUGE shift today.
Relentless.
I’d love to know the player distance stats as he was everywhere.
Yes he’s a striker, but it shows that contributing isn’t JUST about scoring.
What a gem.
#bhafc
Some fans are moaning about the performance?!!
It’s a point on the road after a great run and followed one of the best results in the club’s history you dumbarses! 😳😊
#bhafc
#uta
SHE SAID YES!!! 🙌🏻
Well, today of all days,
I just asked Mrs Bard,
If living back in Sussex,
Would for her be really hard.
But she loves our county,
And we lived there once before,
So we’re now planning to come back,
So we can retire near the shore. ☺️
#SussexDay
#hove
CHELSEA FC - SOME EMOTIONAL
THOUGHTS
06.00 here and I wake to see the investment funded buffoons in west London have again shamelessly turned to BHAFC as they try to buy success.
For me, it cements Chelsea’s place on top of the league.
Top of the league of clubs so easy to
A PAUSE FOR THOUGHT….
Late yesterday afternoon, just as Sussex was heading to bed, a small
cardboard package was delivered to me, the contents of which had a far bigger impact on a 51 year old man from Hove than, logically, it should have.
And I want to try and explain why.
Just received a lovely email from
@SkySportsNews
asking me to read a rhyme out about Roberto live tomorrow afternoon as part of
#NationalPoetryDay
.
I'd better get writing! ✍️
#bhafc
THERE’S SOMETHING IN MY EYE
Oh man. 🥲
In town & spotted this man in a club top so went to say hello. His name is Ron, he’s 90, lost his wife 2 years ago but still loves the club.
He said he looked after gate 18 at the Goldstone for years.
What an absolute gent. 💙
#bhafc
THE MORNING AFTER
Great to see,
Support being shown,
Solly March,
He’s one of our own. 💙
(We may all be suffering this morning, but it won’t compare to this guy. Extra support on Wed and then of course on Saturday at the Amex. 🙏)
#bhafc
THIS CANNOT GO ON!!!!
I can hardly type, never mind worrying about the words vaguely rhyming.
We should be incandescent with anger tonight.
Playing poorly and losing is one thing.
Seeing your team cheated out of 3 points by inept officials is another.
#bhafc
FORGIVE ME, I’M A LITTLE EMOTIONAL 🥹
I’ve picked the keys up & now officially own a tiny flat in Sussex!
Unlikely to be here full-time for several years, but if feels amazing to have one foot back in this beautiful county. ❤️
(And just a short train journey from
the AMEX! ⚽️)
LOOK AT DE ZERBI!!!
WOW - NEVER SEEN HIM THAT PUMPED. SPRINTED OFF THE BENCH AT THE FINAL WHISTLE TO CELEBRATE WITH OUR AWAY SUPPORT!!
BRILLIANT!! 💙
FT 2-3
OLD HEAD, YOUNG SHOULDERS
If we were 18 and had equalised in this situation most of us would be off celebrating.
But not Evan.
Straight over to grab the ball in order to give us the best opportunity to grab a winner.
18! 🇮🇪💚
#bhafc
RANDOM ACT OF KINDNESS?
This lovely lady works at the tiny Hove Station cafe as you drive into the car wash.
Over the last 10 days she’s always had a friendly, positive word to say to me and she and I had some great natters as she made me a bacon sarnie.
I’m pretty sure she
ONE YEAR AGO
A year today,
Potter went on his way,
Bruno too,
What to say?
A few weeks into the season,
It felt like treason.
But some things happen,
For a reason.
De Zerbi appointed,
An Italian king anointed,
Gaps in opposition defences,
Suddenly exploited.
We were all so
DEAR GRAHAM…
Would be sad to lose you,
Early in September,
No doubt you could do the job,
But just remember,
Brighton has a beach,
The air is cleaner,
And as so many managers have discovered,
The grass ain’t always greener.
#BHAFC
#grahampotter
“I remember when I was younger heading past the London Stadium on the train with my wife and imagining what it would be like to beat West Ham there whilst playing for Brighton.”
#BHAFC
So who are we getting in then? Potter or Howe? Both would jump at the chance of a step up and probably easiest to get atm for a step up untill we can get better
#avfc
#bhafc
#nufc
LOYALTY 💙
Great to see and I’m very happy for all
@IpswichTown
supporters.
After your amazing journey it wouldn’t have been right if he hadn’t been at the wheel for your return to the PL.
It’s a great footballing story.
See you next season. 👍🏻
#itfc
Sad news that reminds us all how fragile life is.
7 days ago my brother-in-law Paul was admitted to hospital feeling unwell. Shockingly, tests revealed leukaemia and he passed away overnight here. I’m looking forward to the game but won’t be tweeting today.
#BHAFC
#uta
A big "Molto Bene" from the gaffer! 🇮🇹😄
'Wins, Grins and Limbs' by
@TheBrightonBard
is a poetic look back at the Albion's famous 22/23 season - and £5 from every sale supports our work.
The perfect Xmas gift for a Seagull - get one before they're gone:
12.30: Landed Heathrow
14.30: Picked hire car up
15.00: Devil’s Dyke
16.00: Cheeky shandy in Hove before heading to Hampshire.
Lovely to be back in Sussex. 💙
@EmiratesFACup
@premierleague
Chip, chip, chip
Piece by piece
They dismantle tradition
As their palms they grease.
No more lucrative replays
For smaller teams
But more money for the big boys
Or so it seems,
IT’S EMBARRASSING
This isn’t zoomed in by me.
Oh, no.
This, ladies and gentlemen, is the image that, in the 21st century, when satellites can photograph your back garden from space, the PGMOL use to make offside decisions from 50m away in the richest league on the planet.
HAVE YOU GOT FIVE MINUTES?
It’s 21.00 in Sussex on Thursday and I want to share something personal that I feel is really important.
The video is almost 5 minutes long, but hope it is of real use.
Cheers, Jon 💙
👀HALF-TIME INTERVIEW 🎤👀
It’s an incredible honour to announce that I’m being interviewed pitch-side by the brilliant Richard Reynolds at half-time tomorrow.
I look forward to sharing experiences on life as a Stateside Seagull.
And I may even share a poem. ☺️
Cheers. 🇺🇸
BLOODY HELL, IT’S HAPPENING! ❤️
Flights booked to return & complete the purchase of a TINY flat in Sussex on Tuesday.
A place to stay and call our own as we work on a UK visa for Mrs Bard from over here in Oklahoma.
But it’s in Sussex.
And we’re over the moon!! 🙏🏼💙
LANDED AN HOUR EARLY 👍🏻
Britain does lots of things right.
Air conditioning is not one of them!
It’s tropical here at Heathrow. 🥵
Brighton here I come!
YESTERDAY
Thanks for the kind words about my effort at half-time. It was really nerve-wracking, but think it went OK.
For anyone interested, here is the poem I read. (It is written in a limerick format (1-1-2-2-1).
IT’S FANTASTIC TO BE BACK AT THE AMEX,
TO SUPPORT THE CLUB OF
Just managed a couple of hours with club legend, Dick Knight.
Great coffee and chat, as always. Mrs Bard hadn’t met him before so we put that right.
What a man! 💙🤍
#BHAFC
I’M OFF 👋🏻💙
Hi, all. After a whirlwind eight day trip promoting the book, I’m due to get the 04.15 train from Brighton tomorrow morning and head back to Tulsa via Heathrow and then Dallas. 🇺🇸
It’s been fun and exhausting in equal measure! Thank you for the positive comments.
I’VE MADE A BIG DECISION
Won’t be there on Sunday,
I had a decision to make,
Mothers Day comes but once a year,
So it was a piece of cake,
So if you’re going to watch us play Grimsby,
Enjoy it & have fun,
Brighton play lots of games…
…But I only have 1 mum. ❤️
Forgive me.
But it was a once-in-a-lifetime experience which I’ll never forget. 💙
[Image credit 📷: PaulHazlewood, Brighton & Hove Albion Football Club.]
Oh, the Computer,
Just not fair,
Only 24,
A real scare,
We will miss your goals,
We will miss your grin,
Happy you’re in good hands,
And that you’re still plugged in. 🙏💻💙
#bhafc
I’M GOING!
Flights were booked,
Ages ago,
But could I get a ticket?
I didn’t know,
It’s almost 4am here,
No point counting sheep,
I’ve got my ticket!!!
No way I’ll sleep. 💙
#BHAFC