ALTHOUGH there is growing interest in a campaign to honour Nat Lofthouse with a statue, I would like to make a suggestion before caution is thrown to the wind.

The statue of Sir Stanley Matthews outside the grounds of Stoke City was underwritten by the club on the agreement that the amount would be repaid by the governing committee. By all accounts, that debt is still significantly in arrears.

A proposal for a statue for Sir Tom Finney at Preston North End is not looking overly optimistic due to very little financial commitment from both commercial and private sources.

Even though the fans of Preston and Stoke should be applauded for their efforts to honour their most storied players, fans of the great Nat Lofthouse should be mindful of the difficulties of delivering such an honour.

If the idea of having a monument to the finest man to wear a pair of boots for the Wanderers is deserving of "full support" by the BWSC (supporters club in Bolton), I have to wonder why they haven't spearheaded the campaign to make it happen, rather than relying on a small group of fans in a colonial outpost to take the reins. Surely an effort from the BWSC would be the most likely to succeed?

Brian McGrath

Alberta

Canada