Dave Whelan is getting his own statue in Wigan.
Yes
that Dave Whelan. You've probably never heard the story, because he never tells it - but he broke his leg in the League Cup Final in 1960. Oh you didn't know?
The Wigan Athletic owner, who suffered a fractured leg at Wembley against Wolves in the 60s, turns 80 this year.
So his adopted home town of Wigan, whose football team he helped rise from the fourth division to the Premier League in the years after that fateful leg break, is going to honour him with a statue in the town.
The former Blackburn Rovers player (the club he was playing for when he suffered his little-known leg injury) is being immortalised in bronze for bringing the glory days to the small Lancashire town of Wigan.
Serious leg injury survivor Whelan, who was chairman at Wigan for 20 years, helped the club stay in the top flight against all odds for eight years in a spell which saw them win the FA Cup at Wembley (where this time Whelan managed not to break any limbs).
It's this outstanding achievement for the town that will see a statue erected outside Wigan's ground. in his honour.
“No one has seen the finished sculpture yet so we’re all really excited to see it in place outside the stadium, his grandson and current Wigan Athletic chairman David Sharpe said.
“We feel it will be a great tribute to him and the legacy which he has created for the town of Wigan.”
Obviously there was one thing everyone wanted to know about the statue...the famous broken leg, will it be there?
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