FOOTBALL fan Sharon Marshall has always believed that there was something poetic about the beautiful game.

And she has been proved ‘write’ after being the latest signing for Nelson FC – as its official club poet.

She was approached by the football club to become its resident football poet through her popular Twitter account which she uses to promote the joys of literacy and importance of education.

Her poems are published in the official match programme and in return she gets a season ticket and a Nelson FC shirt.

Sharon, a Liverpool fan since the age of five, was determined her two loves could be brought together and says she would love to see football poetry on the National Curriculum.

Sharon, who works at Bolton Sixth Form, said football was a great way of getting people of all ages interested in literacy, although she stressed it was not exclusively for boys.

She said: “If Shakespeare was alive today he would be writing about the beautiful game. It has everything – passion, emotion – not all that different from what he was writing about.

“Football and literacy are not in separate camps.”

Sharon added that she would explore the club’s glory days including when Nelson FC became the first team to beat Spanish giants Real Madrid.