8 years on...

...and I still can't help but laugh at this:

How on earth did the 'Powers to Be' allow this to be put up for public display?

Can still remember the look of disbelief on the faces of those present when the covers were taken off

Respect to Leon Crouch for helping sort it out

Bet the sculptor hasn't had many commissions since!!

What is/was that? Not being a Southampton fan back then I am curious.

What is/was that? Not being a Southampton fan back then I am curious.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ted_Bates_%28footballer%29#Statue_controversy

Thanks, I needed something to cheer me up.

Did we ever find out what happened to it?

#meltdown

#MeltItDown

EDIT: ohh ohh. #SmeltDown

Thanks, I needed something to cheer me up.

 

Did we ever find out what happened to it?

Ted Mk I is now serving as a central tunnel support on the Jublilee Line extension.

#wemelton

Pity. If you think that a great work of art is something that stimulates public discussion and encourages the viewer to see the world from a different point of view then perhaps it should have been saved as a reminder of what can happen when there is a failure of supervision and an artist is allowed to let his imagination roam. I always thought that if it was melted down they could have produced a limited edition range of desktop miniature statues.

Ted Mk I is now serving as a central tunnel support on the Jublilee Line extension.

Phew, that's a relief. Anything as long as he's not sleeping with the fishes.

Some light context...

Dave Ford, chairman of the Ted Bates Trust, which commissioned the project and shared the cost with the club, said: "Ian has done a tremendous job. It's very rare I'm lost for words but I saw the statue last week and it's awesome - a tremendous tribute to a great man.

http://m.dailyecho.co.uk/news/1267518.statue_of_saints_legend_unveiled_outside_st_marys/

Love the Milan Mandaric comparison!

How on earth did the 'Powers to Be' allow this to be put up for public display?

 

Can still remember the look of disbelief on the faces of those present when the covers were taken off

 

Respect to Leon Crouch for helping sort it out

 

Bet the sculptor hasn't had many commissions since!!

Indeed, You don't have to be a genius to know that this is awful. It should never seen the light of day. Great for lols though.

Some light context...

 

 

 

http://m.dailyecho.co.uk/news/1267518.statue_of_saints_legend_unveiled_outside_st_marys/

 

Love the Milan Mandaric comparison!

I was lost for words, but only because I was laughing so much that I couldn't speak...

I still think that some oiks from down the M27 stole the original and replaced it with this before the unveiling!

It was embarrassing at first but when the thread with all the dead pan humour started taking off I laughed so much that I still only have to see a picture of the statue to find myself instantly laughing. For that I am truly grateful to the sculptor!!

Still amazes me how someone at the club didn't realise and arrange for it to be dropped and broken 'accidentally' before ever allowing it to see the light of day

Those were really bad times. If it happened now I could properly laugh it off instead of attempting a wry and mournful chuckle - it wasn't meant as an insult to Ted Bates after all - but at the time it seemed to be a symbol of everything wrong at the club.

We've come a long way in a surprisingly short amount of time.

Someone suggested making some keyrings of it at the time to raise money for the new statue. I thought that was a great idea!

Sums up the Rupert Lowe era.

It was embarrassing at first but when the thread with all the dead pan humour started taking off I laughed so much that I still only have to see a picture of the statue to find myself instantly laughing. For that I am truly grateful to the sculptor!!

This is exactly how I feel - been chuckling to myself all morning after reading this thread. And am cracked up now just writing this post!!

Does my memory serve, and am I right in saying that the original thread was in the 'Golden Threads' that were lost when the forum swapped servers or something a few years ago? Or am I just making that up lol!!

Would love to read it again - as you said the humour on there was epic!!

Is the original SWF thread still out there somewhere? Was amazing.

Best bit was one of the posters on here got a sneek preview and loved it. Then he tried to defend it once it had been unveiled. Someone link the original thread please!

Best bit was one of the posters on here got a sneek preview and loved it. Then he tried to defend it once it had been unveiled. Someone link the original thread please!

That was Fordy, who to be fair only saw the pieces unassembled, and had a lot to do with the fundraising for it. Why the hell they asked someone who'd never worked in metals to put it together in the first place I don't know.

Having seen the initial reaction on here, I videoed my then-girlfriend watching the unveiling of the statue online. At the time she only knew there was some kind of controversy about it but not what, but the slack-jawed mouth agape look of utter disbelief and shock on her face was something to behold.

The current statue is of course utterly fantastic.

Sums up the Rupert Lowe era.

What it sums up us the belief that Saints fans can run things because they are Saints fans and that people should be given work based on a key qualification of being a Saints fan. That statue is a monumental reminder that if we ever have fans running the club we are in the sh it.

It actually had nothing to do with Rupert Lowe at all.

Is the original SWF thread still out there somewhere? Was amazing.

Unfortunately it is not recoverable from what people have said previously.

Easily the greatest thread the Internet has ever known.

One of the greatest days in the clubs history.

I'm glad it happened.

The sculptor himself (Ian Brennan) is excellent but he rarely does humans, he does more heraldic works. Simply put, the wrong person was hired by the powers that be at the time.

The sculptor himself (Ian Brennan) is excellent but he rarely does humans, he does more heraldic works. Simply put, the wrong person was hired by the powers that be at the time.

It wasn't the powers that be, it was a bunch of self important fans on a fan committee because fans know best and Ian Brennan was a Saints fan which trumped his application over specialist sculptors that disgracefully weren't saints fans so how could they possibly do it.

It wasn't the powers that be, it was a bunch of self important fans on a fan committee because fans know best and Ian Brennan was a Saints fan which trumped his application over specialist sculptors that disgracefully weren't saints fans so how could they possibly do it.

This.

I remember the ones who had seen it over the entire process, saying how fantastic it was. Why oh why didn't someone say "mate, that's a bit sh1t to be honest, mind if we take a rain check on this for a few months"

That said, absolutely delighted it got past that stage though or we'd have never have had THAT day

This.

 

I remember the ones who had seen it over the entire process, saying how fantastic it was. Why oh why didn't someone say "mate, that's a bit sh1t to be honest, mind if we take a rain check on this for a few months"

 

That said, absolutely delighted it got past that stage though or we'd have never have had THAT day

Completely. I wouldn't want to change a thing. Brilliant.

8 years Christ how far have we come since then.

Thanks, I needed something to cheer me up.

 

Did we ever find out what happened to it?

....bought by Pompey on E-bay and used as a scarecrow when they re-seeded the Fratton Park pitch......

The sculptor himself (Ian Brennan) is excellent but he rarely does humans, he does more heraldic works. Simply put, the wrong person was hired by the powers that be at the time.

This just adds to the comedic value of this entire project. The fact the sculptor, by his very definition a creative person, couldn't see it was sh*t. Absolute poppycock. I'm a creative and I know when something is sh*t and it's got nothing to do with subjectivity.

IIRC this guy worked in wood and specialised in birds of prey?? They were quite good if memory serves, he should of known the Bates sculpture had gone severely wrong.

My theory is that he had taken on too many commissions and he had to draft his wife, Pamela*, in to help get the contracts finished on time.

I imagine him talking her through process in his workshop whilst he cracked on with his peregrine falcon!! She would of known it was sh*t too so I blame Pamela Brennan.

*his wife may not be called Pamela.

That was Fordy, who to be fair only saw the pieces unassembled, and had a lot to do with the fundraising for it. Why the hell they asked someone who'd never worked in metals to put it together in the first place I don't know.

 

Having seen the initial reaction on here, I videoed my then-girlfriend watching the unveiling of the statue online. At the time she only knew there was some kind of controversy about it but not what, but the slack-jawed mouth agape look of utter disbelief and shock on her face was something to behold.

 

The current statue is of course utterly fantastic.

Is she your ex-girlgriend because you always used to film her reaction to mildly amusing things?

Cannot believe that was 8 years ago! Time flies. It's a terrible (and hilarious) statue, but I do feel for the sculptor, he must have been humiliated, anyone know what happened to him?

The 'Ted Bates Trust', never was there a more ill fitting name for the group of fans dealing with the creation of the statue. I remember passing the next morning on the way to Sunday morning footy and being so shocked I turned round for another look.

Was by far one of the funniest threads to appear on this site, as some people were trying to defend it at first before the reality set it and the hilarity started. Thanks to Leon Crouch for sorting out the debacle and arranging the creation of a new statue to be very proud of.

Cannot believe that was 8 years ago! Time flies. It's a terrible (and hilarious) statue, but I do feel for the sculptor, he must have been humiliated, anyone know what happened to him?

He's got a whole Wikipedia page and other websites.

I think he has (wisely) stuck to what he was good at...

How on earth did the 'Powers to Be' allow this to be put up for public display?

 

Can still remember the look of disbelief on the faces of those present when the covers were taken off

 

Respect to Leon Crouch for helping sort it out

 

Bet the sculptor hasn't had many commissions since!!

I went to the stadium to see the statue before it was unveiled. The long strange appendage shape sticking up from where the shoulder supposedly was looked really weird through the cloth even then, and quite spooky in the night.

Well doen Leon. for paying for the new Ted. I hope you got some change out of the scrap metal.

I went online to view the sculptor's artwork. Actually, good quality natural history subjects for table presentation pieces. He was clearly inexperienced at sculpting people and working to this scale - and he must have been a skate!

What it sums up us the belief that Saints fans can run things because they are Saints fans and that people should be given work based on a key qualification of being a Saints fan. That statue is a monumental reminder that if we ever have fans running the club we are in the sh it.

 

It actually had nothing to do with Rupert Lowe at all.

Lucky then for Portsmouth their fans aren't running their club. oh