Usually when a football club has a statue up in front of their ground, it’s a tradition reserved for iconic players or managers, so why did Fulham’s own Craven Cottage have an effigy of the King of Pop outside its doors?
Former owner of the club Mohammed Al-Fayed made the claim that Jackson had told him he was a fan of the Cottagers and so after Jackson’s untimely death in 2009, commissioned the statue to pay respects to him.
Despite the fact that the only true evidence of Michael Jackson being a Fulham fan being his attendance at a Championship game against Wigan Athletic in 1999, the statute went up regardless.
Reports at the time claimed that it was intended to be installed be outside of the Harrod’s store, also owned by Al-Fayed, yet on 3 April 2011 the statue was unveiled outside of Craven Cottage.
The fan reaction was initially very negative, with hundreds of fans at the time signing a petition in protest, as well as there being a planned demonstration ahead of the Blackpool match it was revealed at.
Al-Fayed dismissed any rejection, telling fans that those who did not like it should “go to hell”.
Much to the rejoice of fans, when Al-Fayed sold the club in 2013, the statue went too. Al-Fayed would go on record to say that new owner Shadid Khan would pay in blood for its removal, and that he removed a symbol of good luck.
The statue would take refuge in Manchester’s football museum until 2019 when it was once again removed following the controversial ‘Leaving Netherland’ documentary.
Nowadays you can find it within Preston North End’s stadium, Deepdale, where it rests amongst storage with other exhibits.
Whether MJ was a fan of Fulham or not, it must be argued that it’s one of the more bizarre things to have happened in the football world in the last 20 years, and not something likely to happen again any time soon.
By James Flint