With the Bank of England announcing that the £50 bank note is to be redesigned, a petition has been started to seize the opportunity to pay tribute to one of England’s World Cup semi-finalist heroes.
Specifically, football scribe Jonny Sharples is pushing for the image of Harry Maguire to replace the portraits of British steam engine entrepreneurs Matthew Boulton and James Watt on the new polymer note.
Not just any image of Maguire either – the image of him sat astride his inflatable unicorn in the pool at the Three Lions’ tournament training base in Repino…
At current count, Sharple’s petition has garnered almost 16,000 signatures (including Pies’!) with the accompanying mission statement reading thus:
The Bank of England are redesigning the £50 following the successful redesign of the £5, £10, and £20 notes. None of these notes so far have featured a World Cup semi finalist floating on a mythical creature, and in the interests of football’s attempts to come home, who would be more appropriate to feature than Harry Maguire riding an inflatable unicorn?
When you put it like that…
As the groundswell continues to gather momentum, Kyle Walker threw his weight behind the campaign with the Tottenham defender even offering his likeness should a new £5 note be called for too.
Make it happen England! I’ll be happy on a fiver. Plus a bigger amount needs a bigger head… https://t.co/JjuSEiwTBG pic.twitter.com/0puk94xyRO
— Kyle Walker (@kylewalker2) 16 October 2018
As for the England World Cup tenner, here’s our suggestion…
The £20 note? Not England related, but definitely worthy of a currency-based commemoration…
Perfecto.