Type statue Height 2.29 m Media Resin, Plaster | Opened 3 April 2011 Created 3 April 2011 Materials Plaster, Resin | |
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Location National Football Museum, Manchester Opening date 3 April 2011 (2011-04-03) Similar Craven Cottage, National Football Museum, Beethoven Monument - Bonn, Bishops Park, Chopin Statue - Warsaw | ||
The Michael Jackson Statue is a plaster and resin sculpture of Michael Jackson commissioned by Mohamed Al-Fayed and originally unveiled in 2011 outside Craven Cottage, the ground of Fulham Football Club of which Al-Fayed was chairman. It was removed by new Fulham chairman Shahid Khan in 2013 and moved to the National Football Museum in Manchester in 2014.
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Statue
The statue is 7.5 feet (2.3 m) high and is made of plaster and resin. While outside Craven Cottage it stood 13.5 feet (4.1 m) high inclusive of a plinth. Jackson is portrayed wearing a silver jacket, black trousers, white socks and a single glove.
Inspiration
Jackson was a friend of Al-Fayed. He had attended a football match, in 1999, at Craven Cottage as a friend of Al-Fayed to see Fulham play Wigan Athletic. Following Jackson's death in 2009 Al-Fayed commissioned a statue with the plan of siting it inside Harrods in Knightsbridge, London, at the time owned by Al-Fayed. After Harrods sale the new Qatari owners did not want it and he arranged for the statue to be placed outside Craven Cottage.
Unveiling and reception
The statue was unveiled on 3 April 2011 by Al-Fayed before Fulham's game against Blackpool. The reception to the statue was almost all negative. It was described as kitsch and received comments from some fans of Fulham F.C such as, "We're a laughing stock. It has nothing to do with football." and "It makes the club look silly. I thought it was an April Fools joke." Al-Fayed rejected such comments saying, "'Football fans love it. 'If some stupid fans don't understand and appreciate such a gift they can go to hell." Some Fulham footballers, including Brede Hangeland, supported the club's decision to commission the statue. After the unveiling Fulham won their game against Blackpool, 3–0. Louisa Buck, contemporary art correspondent for The Art Newspaper described it as "a spectacularly bad piece of kitsch that doesn't even look all that much like Michael Jackson". Fisun Guner, art critic for The Arts Desk website said "It certainly looks as if his plasticky limbs were too stiff to co-ordinate properly so he's doing a bit of a constipated, Metal Mickey dance. However, I have a strong feeling that Michael would have simply loved it."
Removal and resiting
In July 2013, Shahid Khan completed the purchase from Al-Fayed, of Fulham FC, for a fee believed to be between £150m and £200m. In September 2013 it was decided that the statue would be removed and returned to Al-Fayed; the statue was not part of the ground's redevelopment plans. On 25 September 2013 the statue was removed. On 3 May 2014 Fulham were relegated from the Premier League after 13 seasons in the league, the top tier of English Football. Mohamed Al-Fayed blamed the removal of the statue for causing the club's relegation. Believing the statue to bring good luck he said he had told Shahid Khan, "Fine, it is a lucky thing, you will regret it later.". The statue was moved to the National Football Museum in Manchester in May 2014.