United creates Bremner Square as a ‘celebration of club’s history’
IT IS one of the most famous landmarks in English football.
A magnet for fans during good times and bad since its unveiling in 1999, the Billy Bremner statue at Elland Road provides a fitting tribute to the man widely regarded as Leeds United’s greatest ever player.
And now United have announced plans for a stylish revamp of the area around the imposing nine-foot bronze.
It is being redeveloped and renamed as Bremner Square, with new stones dedicated to another ten Leeds legends due to be put in place.
Fans will be given the chance to vote on which players are chosen to line up alongside King Billy in the Bremner Square XI.
Supporters will also be able to purchase their own granite stones – complete with names and personalised messages – for inclusion in a new-look base for the statue. United managing director Angus Kinnear said Bremner Square would be a “celebration” of the club’s history.
He added: “The reaction from supporters has been wonderful, with hundreds of fans already taking up the opportunity to have their own engraved stone.”
The Bremner statue was inspired by its subject’s goal celebration on the night Leeds beat Barcelona en route to the 1975 European Cup final. It was sculpted by artist Frances Segelman, who had to strengthen the floorboards of her east London studio to take its weight.
Bremner made more than 750 appearances for United between 1960 and 1976, captaining the Whites to two league titles, an FA Cup triumph and a host of other silverware.
He also managed Leeds as they reached the FA Cup semifinal and Division Two play-off final during the 1986-87 season. Memorably described as “10st of barbed wire”, he died in 1997 from a heart attack at the age of just 54.
The players picked for inclusion in the new Bremner Square XI will be announced at a gala dinner at Elland’s Road’s Gowing Law Centenary Pavilion early next year.