Hey, that’s me! World Cup winner discovers statue
ONE of three World Cup winners immortalised in a statue in his hometown has only just found about the tribute... seven years after it was unveiled!
Simone Perrotta is the third Tamesider to lift the famous trophy – with Italy in 2006.
The star was born in Ashton in 1977 to Italian parents and spent five years there attending the old St Ann’s Primary School on Burlington Street.
In 2010, Tameside council unveiled a statue of the star alongside two members of the England’s 1966 World Cup squad.
Sir Geoff Hurst, who bagged a hattrick in the final, was born in Ashton in 1941 and spent his early years living in neighbouring Denton before his family moved to Essex.
Whilst former Blackpool star Jimmy Armfield CBE, who was a substitute in the same game, was also born and raised in Denton and was captain of the England side before Bobby Moore.
A statue of all three was unveiled outside the Tameside Stadium, home to Curzon Ashton and a sports village used by the local community, in December 2010 with Sir Geoff and Jimmy both visiting it afterwards. However it appears midfielder Perrotta, 40, who played for Juventus and Roma during his illustrious career, has remained blissfully unaware until now.
He has been quoted back in his homeland as saying: “It was my uncle, who still lives there, who told me about it.
“I find it a bit strange nobody else alerted me to the existence of this statue.
“My kids were surprised standing there in front of the statues of those England players. And ‘Hey, I’m there too…’
A Tameside council spokesman said: “When the World Cup sculpture was unveiled in 2010 we made strenuous efforts to contact Simone I thought: Perotta. We e-mailed and wrote to his then club, AS Roma, several times but there was no response. We also spoke to people who claimed to know Simone and his family, but they proved unable to help.
“Considering the media coverage generated by the Geoff Hurst and Jimmy Armfield visits, it’s surprising no one made Simone aware.
“However, none of that detracts from the place he holds in Tameside’s sporting history. If Simone Perotta is ever in Britain we would love to show him the statue.”