Jan Molby has become the latest Liverpool legend to be immortalised in paint, thanks to a little help from MurWalls, who brought Troy Hawke and the former Red together for the first time.
When comedian Troy Hawke made a throwaway comment about a footballer he remembered from his youth, little did he know he’d one day meet his Danish ‘idol’.
Located on Sybil Road, next to the Trent Alexander-Arnold mural and just a stone’s throw from Anfield, the area’s newest mural depicts Liverpool legend Jan Molby on a Panini sticker style design with the caption ‘What would Jan Molby do?’
After the comedian went viral asking the question of Kevin De Bruyne for Man City‘s Youtube channel, Hawke was brought together by Murwalls to create a mural of the great Dane.
MurWalls are the team behind several of the murals around Anfield and they set up the meeting between the unlikely pair.
When Hawke and Molby, who made 292 Liverpool appearances between 1985 and 1995, finally met at the art piece’s unveiling, they embraced in a hug.
Afterwards, the comedian, famous for his eccentricity, quipped that Molby was “the Scousest Danish person he’d ever come across in my entire existence.”
When asked the reason for picking Molby as the “non-consensual CEO of the Greeter’s Guild” – the Greeters Guild is a series of funny videos in which Hawke welcomes people to various shops and outlets in humourous ways – Hawke said: “Why not Jan Molby?
“He is the most selfless player who’s ever existed in any sphere of footballing genre you can think of. He never left the centre circle and existed to make others look good.
“He was the obvious choice.”
The comedian, who attended the University of Liverpool, explained that he started referencing Molby because he wasn’t into football growing up but the Dane was just a name he remembered consistently popping up on Ceefax.
Standing in the snow, seeing his enlarged face on the wall for the first time, Molby told This Is Anfield: “I like it.
“[Murals] have become very popular around the Anfield stadium. I come here on most matchdays and I see the interest that there is. You know, people go around looking for them, wanting to take pictures.”
The art form is a way of paying tribute to idols that has grown significantly over the last few years. Around Anfield and the city centre, many of the city’s walls are adorned with footballing heroes as well as musical greats.
In the Anfield area alone, there are paintings dedicated to Ray Clemence, Jordan Henderson, Alexander-Arnold, Mo Salah, Luis Diaz, Ian Rush, Steven Gerrard, Jurgen Klopp and Sir Kenny Dalglish, to name just a few.
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