It would be a great loss if the one of the country’s most famous paintings – showing Bolton Wanderers fans – was no longer on public show, according to Phil Mason, CEO of Bolton Wanderers in the Community.

LS Lowry’s Going to the Match, painted in 1953, depicts a bustling throng of people gathered at Burnden Park, the former home of the club, and is among a series of paintings going under the hammer at Christie’s Modern British and Irish Art evening sale on October 19.

It could fetch £8 million.

But fears have been raised that the painting, currently part of the Lowry collection at the Lowry gallery in Salford, could be sold to a private collector and taken off public view.

Paul Dennett, Mayor of Salford, was the first to call for the new owner of the painting to keep it “free to access” in the North.

It is a view echoed by Mr Mason.

He said: “We would definitely want to have that on display because it’s an incredible piece of art that depicts the fans going to a match.

“This is something that we have had down different decades and it is a staple of what started in 1877 for Bolton and a part of our weekly lives.

“It would be a great loss and we would encourage whoever buys it to still let it be displayed so that it can be enjoyed.”

He added: “It means a great deal not just for Bolton fans but to all football fans because it’s showing people going to a match.

“It’s something people have always done and captures a moment that people can relate to.

“It’s part of a weekly routine for many fans and they wouldn’t want to see it become private.”

Cllr Hilary Fairclough, deputy leader of Bolton Council, said that she liked the style of the painting and understood what it meant to people.

She said: “It will be a great pity if it is bought by a private collector and disappeared from public view. Hopefully it will be bought by someone or some institution that wants to share what I think is a wonderful picture.”

Julia Fawcett, chief executive of the Lowry museum and gallery, said that the gallery was not in a position to buy the painting, which is estimated to fetch up to £8 million.

She said: “Had it been three or four years ago the position might have been different in terms of our ability to fundraise to acquire it and bring it into the public collection, meaning it will be saved forever.

“But fragility for arts organisations at the moment, the timing is so challenging.

“I think it is absolutely our best prospect, in terms of securing it for public displays, really to find somebody who would acquire it, who would have that sense of responsibility like the PFA had, and ensure that it does remain available for the public and it remains free.”

Ms Fawcett added that the painting is “more of a piece of social history than it is a painting of a football match”.

“It is so evocative of Lowry’s work. If you see the painting, there’s probably about a millimetre of the pitch available, the whole of the painting bar that millimetre is depicting the local communities making their way to the match.”