Three Degrees statue in honour of Baggies legends finally set to be unveiled

The man behind the ‘celebration statue’ project, Jim Cadman, told the Express & Star that work on the bronze – featuring Baggies heroes Laurie Cunningham, Brendon Batson and Cyrille Regis – is likely to be completed in two months time.

He said he hoped the long-delayed £220,000 statue would be in place in West Bromwich ‘before the end of the season’.

Its exact location has not yet been confirmed, although it was originally earmarked for the town’s New Square shopping centre.

Plans for the statue, which has been cast by renowned sculptor Graham Ibbeson, were first revealed more than five years ago.

Organisers say they have met delays due to problems raising the £220,000 required for it, and Mr Cadman said they were still £38,000 short of their target.

He said: “All of the component parts for the celebration statue have now been cast in bronze and are in a London foundry ready to be assembled, before being transported to a foundry near the Hawthorns to be finished and polished prior to installation and unveiling.

“This remaining work by Graham will take around two months to complete but before he can start we will need to generate the additional funds required to complete the statue.

“We are continuing to work on this with a target of finishing the project before the end of the season.”

He added: “This statue is so important. It is not only about football, it’s about the cultural and sporting heritage of West Bromwich.

“We are working extremely hard to get this done.”

Funding for the project included £30,000 from Sandwell Council, as well as contributions from Albion fans, the Professional Footballers Association, the FA, the League Managers Association, Kick It Out, the West Bromwich Albion Supporters Club and the WBA Former Players Association, as well as businessmen in the Black Country.

Mr Ibbeson was also responsible for the bronze statue of Laurie Cunningham that was unveiled near Leyton Orient’s Matchroom Stadium in London last week.

Cunningham rose to prominence in the 1970s at a time when racism was prevalent in the game, and made his debut for Orient in 1974 before joining Albion three years later.

When he played alongside Batson and Regis it was the first time any top-flight club had regularly fielded three black players.

They were dubbed the Three Degrees, after the Motown group of the same name, by then Albion boss Ron Atkinson.

Reflecting on the trio at a dinner in 2015, Atkinson said: “I had all three of these at two different clubs. They were great role models.

“They did not go out of their way to be that, they just were.”

Over the years a number of fundraising events have been held to raise money for the statue, including a night hosted by Baggies fan and comedian Frank Skinner at Birmingham’s town hall.

The statue was originally due to be unveiled on July 15, 2014, to mark the 25th anniversary of Cunningham’s death at the age of 33 in a car crash in Spain.