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Artist News
National Football Museum removes Michael Jackson statue
By Andy Malt | Published on Thursday 7 March 2019
The National Football Museum in Manchester has removed a statue of Michael Jackson. Although not because of the new documentary on abuse allegations against the late pop star, it insists. More just because it makes basically no sense to have it there.
A spokesperson for the museum said: “Plans have been under way for a number of months to remove the Michael Jackson statue from display as part of our ongoing plans to better represent the stories we want to tell about football. As a result of this, the statue has now been removed”.
There is a football connection to the statue though. It was erected outside Fulham FC’s Craven Cottage stadium in 2011, at the behest of then owner of the club, Mohammed Al Fayed.
Commissioned after the musician’s death, the original plan had been to put the monument inside the Harrods department store. However, it was completed after Al Fayed sold his retail business, hence the location change to Fulham’s ground. Although Jackson’s only connection to the club was that he had attended a match there once.
At the time, Al Fayed disputed that there was anything strange about his chosen location for the Jackson statue, saying: “Why is it bizarre? Football fans love it. If some stupid fans don’t understand and appreciate such a gift they can go to hell. I don’t want them to be fans. If they don’t understand and don’t believe in things I believe in they can go to Chelsea, they can go to anywhere else”.
It was not popular with fans though, some even believing it had brought the club bad luck. The statue was removed shortly after Shahid Khan took over Fulham FC in 2013. Al Fayed then donated it to the National Football Museum.
