Plan B Forum

An enormous monument recording the scoreline of every England national football team defeat is expected to sell for £600,000 at auction.

Italian artist Maurizio Cattelan created the untitled piece in 1999 to celebrate the England national side's regular disappointments. Etched into black granite was every occasion the England side lost, from their 2-1 defeat to Scotland in 1874 up until Romania's 2-1 victory at the 1998 World Cup.

The artwork, which is made of black granite set in MDF and steel, is 7.2ft high, 10ft wide and 2ft deep. The piece starts with England's 1874 loss to Scotland and ends with its 1998 World Cup loss against Romania. If continued until today, it would also incorporate Britain's losses to Uruguay and Italy in last year's World Cup. Also etched onto the granite would be the team's 4-1 humiliation at the hands of Germany in 2010 and the 2006 exit on penalties against Portugal. The piece of art will be auctioned off next week at Sotheby's New Bond Street gallery in London.

The monument is being offered with a guide price of £400,000 - £600,000, which the average England footballer could pay for with one months' salary. CNN reported Cattelan as explaining it was 'a piece which talks about pride, missed opportunities and death'.

Cattelan is notorious for his often satirical and biting art displays. Perhaps his best known piece is an effigy of Pope John Paul II being crushed by a meteor.

too much like many serious and important monuments (Vietnam in DC for example) to really be a good "joke"

Perhaps his best known piece is an effigy of Pope John Paul II being crushed by a meteor.

Lord Jim wrote:.

This was an obvious attempt at a "humorous" parody of The Vietnam Memorial Wall....

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I doubt it Jim, what wall are you talking about?

Lord Jim wrote:

I doubt it Jim, what wall are you talking about?

If you don't know what The Vietnam Memorial Wall is, then I'm not the one with the "parochialism" problem...

And if you're point is that he's attempting to be "humorous" by satirizing the deaths of young men who died in combat in some "other" war, it's not immediately apparent to me how that would be an improvement...

Don Whillans participated in the 1972 European Everest Expedition, attempting to climb Mount Everest's southwest face. The expedition was plagued with personality conflicts and the withdrawal of many climbers. While in camp, some other climbers overheard news that England had lost a soccer game to Germany. "It seems we have beaten you at your national sport", said a German. After a pause Whillans replied, "Aye, and we've beaten you at yours...twice."