Gerry Marsden: Statue planned for Liverpool FC anthem singer

Laura Lian has shown a sketch of the proposed statue to Gerry Marsden's family

A statue of Gerry and the Pacemakers singer Gerry Marsden could be built on Liverpool's waterfront.

Sculptor Laura Lian wanted to honour the singer whose version of You'll Never Walk Alone became a terrace anthem for his hometown club Liverpool.

Marsden, who was made an MBE in 2003, died after a short illness on 3 January at the age of 78.

The statue could overlook the river he immortalised in his classic hit, Ferry Cross The Mersey.

Ms Lian was approached by developers of a prospective housing development to design a tribute to him after they saw her statue of John Lennon, the Local Democracy Reporting Service said.

She said: "I came up with the idea when Gerry Marsden was still alive.

"The architects loved it but the sad thing was that Gerry died and I was pretty gutted because I was looking forward to working with him.

"And then I was informed that the development near the marina had been put on hold."

Gerry Marsden sings You'll Never Walk Alone before an Anfield match in 2010

She said she had shown Marsden's family sketches of the proposed design, which shows him playing a guitar against a backdrop of notes on a stave, and they liked it.

"He's got his foot on a bench... playing his guitar in front of sheet music that has the first few bars of the song he became famous for," she said.

Ms Lian thinks the best new location would be at the Mersey Ferry terminal at Pier Head because Marsden's homage to the ferries was played on board every day.

Her bronze sculpture of John Lennon is due to be exhibited in Amsterdam's Art Zuid Imagine exhibition, having been displayed on Penny Lane until last year.