Dusty in the storeroom

“Terrible!” Trouble over “missing” Kane statue

(Bild: GEPA, twitter.com/FootballTalkHQ)

The first photos of a statue of Bayern striker Harry Kane that has been "missing" for four years have caused anger. Criticism rained down on social media. The statue was "an ugly waste of taxpayers' money". His home borough wanted to honor the captain of the England national team with it - but everything has since gone wrong. 

The Kane statue sits on a bench, shirt on, facing forward and balancing the ball on his knees. These are the first photos of the "artwork", which has been in existence since 2019, funded by the borough of Waltham Forest and has remained under lock and key in a council warehouse ever since.

The pictures, published in "The Big Issue" magazine, have since caused anger on social media. "What a horrible looking sculpture. Such a waste of public money", "The council can spend a load of money on an ugly statue but not pick up the garbage cans", or "They could melt it down again and use it to fill potholes and crumbling roads all over the borough" were some of the most popular comments.

Parallels were also drawn with the infamous, unsuccessful "Ronaldo bust" in Madeira: "We simply have to give up the statues," declared one user, earning a lot of encouragement.

The "mysterious" statue
The council of Waltham Forest in north London, the district where Kane was born, commissioned a statue in honor of the striker in 2019. Over 7,500 euros were made available for this. The statue was made, but then things went strangely quiet.

The Kane statue seemed to have "disappeared" - much to the amazement and anger of the locals. Eventually it became public that the statue was gathering dust in a city council warehouse. No suitable place could be found to erect it in the district.

Emma Best, one of the councillors who commissioned the statue, told the BBC that she had tried for "hours" to find a place for the statue. However, she had always been turned down. For example, out of concern that rival soccer fans would otherwise tamper with the "work of art".