Liam Mackey: All hail the King of Kings

My favourite football-related line this week appeared in an agency report from the United States which archly observed that a newly unveiled statue of Pele in Rio “bore a close resemblance” to the great man.

You might think that such should probably be the least one is entitled to expect of a life-size sculpture of a living legend but, as we know, from Georgie to Maradona, football has had a somewhat troubled relationship with this particular art form, as exemplified by the infamous tribute to Ronaldo at Madeira Airport which contrived to make him look less like his perfect airbrushed self and more like our own Niall Quinn, albeit just after the long fellow has perhaps been dealt a sharp rap on the back of the head with a rubber mallet.