My Crucial Track for 10 April 2026 - “The Ballad of David Seaman” by Murray Lachlan Young
Post one of your favourite ballads
I’m not proud of myself for this. It doesn’t say good things about my character that I take nearly as much pleasure in the failures of the Arsenal as I do in the success of Chelsea, but there you are.
Also, David Seaman seems like a good chap. I should be ashamed of myself.
This hardly qualifies as a ‘track’, but I know it as ‘The Ballad of David Seaman’, and it is a good song.
The scene is set at the end of the European Cup Winners Cup final in Paris in 1995.
It was in the 98th minute and the game was nearly gone
And Seaman stood upon the turf and urged the Gunners on
The crowd expecting penalties were whistling for time
But one cruel Zaragozan saw the keeper off his line
Oh, and up stepped Seaman’s nemesis and his name it was Nayim
He kicked a mighty lofted ball so high above the scene
And Seaman scrambled backwards to face a final card
To be beaten by a cannonball from over 50 yards
Marvellous stuff! 😀
The poet’s website is https://www.murraylachlanyoung.co.uk/
This is from Crucial Tracks. My profile is here.