Cyrille Regis death: April target for Celebration statue

Cyrille Regis [third from left] showed a model of the Celebration Statue to Martin Luther King III [second from left] at Wembley Stadium, watched by Brendon Batson [left] and former England striker Luther Blissett [right]

A statue in honour of three pioneering West Bromwich Albion footballers is hoped to be finished in April, following the death of Cyrille Regis.

The ex-England forward has been credited with inspiring a generation of black footballers at the club alongside Laurie Cunningham and Brendon Batson.

Organisers behind the delayed £220,000 statue say £38,000 still needs to be found to complete it.

It was originally intended to be unveiled in West Bromwich in 2014.

Sculptor Graham Ibbeson says it is now "in its final phase".

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Regis, 59, who died after falling ill on Sunday night, scored 112 goals in 297 appearances for the Baggies before joining Coventry City for £250,000 in 1984.

When the striker, Cunningham and Batson played together in 1978, it was the first time a top-flight club had regularly fielded three black players. They were dubbed the Three Degrees by boss Ron Atkinson.

Cunningham died aged 33 in a car crash in Spain in July 1989.

A clay model of the statue was first unveiled in 2013

Jim Cadman, from the Celebration Statue initiative, said there were two anniversaries the statue would celebrate.

The 25 April will mark the 40th anniversary since the trio first started a game for the Baggies together - a 3-1 home win over Everton. This year is also the 25th anniversary of the launch of the Kick It Out anti-racism campaign.

Last month, Mr Ibbeson said he had produced a scale model that was cast into bronze and he moved on to sculpt the three 10ft figures in clay, which were approved by Batson, Regis and the Cunningham family before they were moulded for preparation for bronze casting.

He said the whole sculpture was now cast into bronze and "awaits the final push to have all sections welded together".