- LONDON: Fulham's "Bad." You know it.
- At least they soon will be, in the positive sense, when a statue of Michael Jackson is erected outside the football club's stadium in southwest London to commemorate the late pop star's friendship with Fulham Chairman Mohamed Al-Fayed.
The figure is scheduled to be unveiled at Craven Cottage on April 3, the same day the club faces Blackpool in a Premier League match. "Michael Jackson was truly a legend, a term used too often in this modern world saturated in the hyperbole surrounding celebrity," Al-Fayed said.
"He was my friend, a man with whom I shared many happy memories and who died a tragic and untimely death." Jackson, whose hits include "Bad," "Billie Jean" and "Thriller," died in Los Angeles on June 25, 2009.
The statue had been slated to be erected outside Harrods department store, but that plan was changed because Al-Fayed sold the landmark business in Knightsbridge last year. Instead, it will be located along the banks of the River Thames next to Fulham's small stadium. Jackson visited Craven Cottage in the past, sitting next to Al-Fayed and wearing a black and white Fulham scarf.