A plaster and resin sculpture of

Michael Jackson Michael Joseph Jackson (August 29, 1958 – June 25, 2009) was an American singer, songwriter, dancer, and philanthropist. Dubbed the " King of Pop", he is regarded as one of the most significant cultural figures of the 20th century. Over ...

stood outside

Craven Cottage Craven Cottage is a football ground in Fulham, West London, England, which has been the home of Fulham F.C. since 1896.According to the club'official website The ground's capacity is 22,384; the record attendance is 49,335, for a game agains ...

Fulham Fulham () is an area of the London Borough of Hammersmith & Fulham in West London, England, southwest of Charing Cross. It lies on the north bank of the River Thames, bordering Hammersmith, Kensington and Chelsea. The area faces Wandswor ...

London London is the capital and List of urban areas in the United Kingdom, largest city of England and the United Kingdom, with a population of just under 9 million. It stands on the River Thames in south-east England at the head of a estuary dow ...

, the ground of

Fulham Football Club Fulham Football Club is an English professional association football, football club based in Fulham, London, which compete in the . They have played home games at Craven Cottage since 1896, other than a two-year period spent at Loftus Road whil ...

, from 2011 until 2013. Commissioned by the club's chairman

Mohamed Al-Fayed Mohamed Al-Fayed (; arz, محمد الفايد ; born 27 January 1929) is an Egyptian-born businessman whose residence and chief business interests have been in the United Kingdom since the late 1960s. His business interests include ownership of ...

, it was removed by his successor

Shahid Khan Shahid Rafiq Khan ( ur, ; born July 18, 1950)"Sha ...

. From 2014 to 2019 the statue was on display at the

National Football Museum The National Football Museum is England's national museum of football. It is based in the Urbis building in Manchester city centre, and preserves, conserves and displays important collections of football memorabilia. The museum was originally b ...

Manchester Manchester () is a city in Greater Manchester, England. It had a population of 552,000 in 2021. It is bordered by the Cheshire Plain to the south, the Pennines to the north and east, and the neighbouring city of Salford to the west. The ...

Description

The statue is high and is made of plaster and resin.

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 Wigan Athletic Football Club () is an English professional association football club based in Wigan, Greater Manchester, England. The team competes in the Championship, the second tier of the English football league system. Founded in 1932, ...

. Following Jackson's death in 2009 Al-Fayed commissioned a statue with the plan of siting it inside

Harrods Harrods Limited is a department store located on Brompton Road in Knightsbridge, London, England. It is currently owned by the state of Qatar via its sovereign wealth fund, the Qatar Investment Authority. The Harrods brand also applies to ot ...

Knightsbridge Knightsbridge is a residential and retail district in central London, south of Hyde Park. It is identified in the London Plan as one of two international retail centres in London, alongside the West End. Toponymy Knightsbridge is an ancien ...

, London, at the time owned by Al-Fayed. After the sale of Harrods the department store's new

Qatar Qatar (, ; ar, قطر, Qaṭar ; local vernacular pronunciation: ), officially the State of Qatar,) is a country in Western Asia. It occupies the Qatar Peninsula on the northeastern coast of the Arabian Peninsula in the Middle East; it sh ...

i owners did not want the statue, and Al-Fayed arranged for it 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 Blackpool is a seaside resort in Lancashire, England. Located on the northwest coast of England, it is the main settlement within the borough also called Blackpool. The town is by the Irish Sea, between the Ribble and Wyre rivers, and is ...

. The reception of the sculpture was almost all negative. It was described as

kitsch Kitsch ( ; loanword from German) is a term applied to art and design that is perceived as naïve imitation, overly-eccentric, gratuitous, or of banal taste. The avant-garde opposed kitsch as melodramatic and superficial affiliation wi ...

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." 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 Louisa Buck is a British art critic and contemporary art correspondent for ''The Art Newspaper''. She was a jurist for the 2005 Turner Prize. She is also an author or co-author of books on contemporary art market. Early life and family background ...

, the contemporary art correspondent for ''

The Art Newspaper ''The Art Newspaper'' is a monthly print publication, with daily updates online, founded in 1990 and based in London and New York City. It covers news of the visual arts as they are affected by international politics and economics, developments ...

'', described it as "a spectacularly bad piece of kitsch that doesn't even look all that much like Michael Jackson". Fisun Guner, an art critic for ''

The Arts Desk ''The Arts Desk'' (theartsdesk.com) is a British arts journalism website containing reviews, interviews, news, and other content related to music, theatre, television, films, and other art forms written by journalists from a variety of traditio ...

'' 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 Metal Mickey is a fictional five-foot-tall robot, as well as the name of a spin-off television show starring the same character. The robot character was created, controlled and voiced by Johnny Edward. The character of Metal Mickey first appe ...

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 of Fulham F.C. from Mohamed Al-Fayed, 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 3 May 2014 Fulham were relegated from the

Premier League The Premier League (legal name: The Football Association Premier League Limited) is the highest level of the men's English football league system. Contested by 20 clubs, it operates on a system of promotion and relegation with the English Fo ...

after 13 seasons in the league, the top tier of English Football. Al-Fayed blamed the removal of the statue for causing the club's relegation. The statue was moved to the

in Manchester in May 2014. On 6 March 2019, the statue was removed from the National Football Museum.

References

{{Coord, 53, 29, 08, N, 2, 14, 31, W, type:landmark_region:GB-MAN, display=title 2011 sculptures Monuments and memorials in London Outdoor sculptures in London Jackson, Michael Cultural depictions of Michael Jackson Fulham F.C. Jackson, Michael Jackson, Michael Jackson, Michael Jackson, Michael Jackson, Michael Harrods

Description

Inspiration

Unveiling and reception

Removal and resiting

See also

References