Bristol City fans raising cash for Atyeo statue

Bristol City chairman Steve Lansdown has given his backing to plans by the club's Supporters' Trust to build a statue of legendary centre-forward John Atyeo at their new stadium.

The Trust have set a target of £100,000 to build a statue to the player who is the club's record goalscorer. They took the decision after majority of fans in a survey of 3,000 picked Atyeo, who died in 1993, as the clear choice for any such monument.

Atyeo already has a stand named after him at Ashton Gate, and now the fans want to go one step further, with the monument pencilled in for the club's planned new stadium.

Lansdown told the Post: "The Supporters' Trust survey showed there is a demand from supporters to have a statue at the new stadium, and John Atyeo is the clear favourite with fans for that.

"He is arguably the most famous player in the club's history and the Trust's decision to raise funds for a statue in memory of him comes with the full blessing of the club.

"With the new stadium being a capital project, plus the ongoing funding of the team, we couldn't envisage building in costs of a statue on top, so I'm delighted the Trust and our supporters are willing to take on the fundraising for this project."

Trust chairman Stuart Rogers said: "As Bristol City continues to take bold steps to a promising future, it is important that we also keep in touch with the Club's roots."

The Trust has agreed with Lansdown that money raised for the statue will be invested in shares in Bristol City Holdings and that the Club will use the money to commission the statue.

Rogers explained: "The size of the sculpture will depend on the amount of money raised. We're setting ourselves the target of raising £100,000 by summer 2011. The Trust already has £15,000 earmarked for the statue, and we call on all City fans to contribute."