Johnny Haynes Statue

The bronze Johnny Haynes Statue on Stevenage Road in London honors Fulham Football Club's greatest player, who became Britain's first £100-a-week footballer in January 1961. Unveiled outside Craven Cottage on October 18, 2008, the monument commemorates the former England captain who made 658 appearances and scored 158 goals for Fulham over 20 years. The statue stands directly outside the historic 1905 Grade II listed stand designed by Archibald Leitch.

London · from the walk “The Beautiful Game: London's Football Trail” · audio ~4 min · Generated

Johnny Haynes Statue, Stevenage Road, Fulham, London SW6 6HH

When was the Johnny Haynes Statue outside Craven Cottage unveiled?

Take a look at the bronze figure standing here on Stevenage Road, hand on hip, gazing across at Craven Cottage. That's Johnny Haynes... the man they called "The Maestro." And this spot is one of the most historically loaded patches of ground in all of English football.......... Nicknamed "The Maestro," Haynes was known for his two-footed passing ability, vision, and deftness of touch. His signature move was the diagonal through-ball, often delivered Blind and on the turn, as if he could sense the opening without having to see it. His teammate Alan Mullery put it perfectly: "Johnny was the greatest passer of a ball I've known. He could lay it within six inches of a colleague."

...... But here's what makes Haynes truly remarkable. He is widely regarded as Fulham's greatest ever player, remaining loyal for Twenty years despite never winning a major trophy. He turned down offers from Tottenham and Arsenal — and even AC Milan came calling. Fulham chairman Tommy Trinder, a famous comedian, had rejected a hundred thousand pound offer from AC Milan. Instead, after the maximum wage was abolished in January nineteen sixty one, Trinder paid Haynes five times the old twenty pound cap — making him Britain's First hundred-pound-a-week footballer!......... And he wasn't just a footballer... Haynes was a star on and off the pitch. He took over from Dennis Compton as the face of Brylcreem, his smoothly oiled hair appearing on adverts across the country. One of the very first footballers to become a celebrity through advertising.......... Then came the tragedy. In August nineteen sixty two, on Blackpool promenade, a gust of wind blew his sports car into the path of another vehicle. Haynes suffered broken bones in Both feet and a badly injured knee. He was only twenty seven. Before the accident, he'd captained England twenty two times and was expected to lead them in the nineteen sixty six World Cup. He never played for England again.......... But he came back to Fulham. Of course he did. Haynes remained Fulham's inspiration — calm, inventive, and loyal. By the time he left Craven Cottage in nineteen seventy, he had made six hundred and fifty eight appearances and scored a hundred and fifty eight goals.......... Now, turn around and look at the stand behind this statue. It was designed by Archibald Leitch and built in nineteen oh five. This is the Oldest remaining football stand in the Football League, and it's a Grade Two listed building. Leitch was the man who essentially Invented the British football stadium — his commissions included stands at Anfield, Old Trafford, Highbury, Stamford Bridge, and White Hart Lane. And right here at Craven Cottage, the stand still contains its original nineteen oh five wooden Bennett seats — three thousand five hundred and seventy one of them, as robust as ever.......... The statue was unveiled in two thousand and eight, before Fulham's nil-nil draw with Sunderland on the eighteenth of October — the anniversary of Haynes's passing. In two thousand and two, Haynes had become an inaugural inductee into the English Football Hall of Fame. A man who chose loyalty over glory... and became a legend precisely because of it.

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