Former Fulham owner says removal of Michael Jackson statue caused club to be relegated

When Fulham owner Shahid Khan had Mohammed Al Fayed’s huge Michael Jackson statue removed from Craven Cottage this September, little did he know it would cost his new club its spot in England first division. According to the former Cottagers’ owner, however, the removal of the infamous 7'6" piece cost the Whites their spot in the Premier League, with the team’s “luck” leaving when the status was taken from its grounds.

Al Fayed, friends with the pop icon, offered that insight today on Tuesday in Manchester, where the piece was being donated to England’s National Football Museum:

“This statue was a charm and we removed the luck from the club and now we have to pay the price,” Fayed said. “When [Khan] asked me to move it I said: ‘You must be crazy.’ This is such a fantastic statue which the fans are crying out for. But now he has paid the price because the club has been relegated. He called me because he told me he wanted Michael to return. I told him, no way.

I would offer that Al Fayed can’t be serious, but he was serious enough to put the statue at Craven Cottage in the first place. At this point, his devotion to the legendary performer can’t be questioned. Though it’s unclear Jackson’s link to the club went beyond attending a match in 1999, Al Fayed still sought to honor the departed singer on Fulham’s grounds.

Whether the symbol of that honor was a good luck charm is another, completely ludicrous question, particularly considering (and I can’t believe I’m saying this) 10 years in the Premier League before the piece’s arrival suggests the statue may have been bad luck. Not that I want to add that theory to this pile of crazy.

Staring at a new life in the Championship, I’m sure the club’s never given the statue a second thought. Though if people were running around Craven Cottage worrying about the influence of a statue, that would explain why the Whites went down.