Ipswich Town: Kevin Beattie statue fundraising nears total

Sculptor Sean Hedges-Quinn has designed the statue of Kevin Beattie

Fundraising for a statue of Ipswich Town footballer Kevin Beattie is tantalisingly close to its target.

The central defender, voted Ipswich's greatest-ever player, died from a heart attack in September, aged 64.

More than £6,000 was raised by fans at the team's match against Sunderland on Saturday and is being matched by the Ipswich Town owner Marcus Evans.

An anonymous £5,000 donation on Monday means the campaign is less than £5,000 away from the £110,000 target.

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The fundraising campaign, called The Beat Goes On, was started in December by BBC Radio Suffolk, where Beattie was a regular on-air contributor, in conjunction with local newspapers and the TWTD website.

Fans contributed £6,448 to the cause on Saturday through a bucket collection that Marcus Evans promised to match.

Since Friday, the campaign has also had £5,430 in donations on their fundraising website page including £5,000 from a mystery donor.

Ipswich Star and East Anglian Daily Times (EADT) editor Brad Jones said the weekend's fundraising showed how much passion there was to see the statue built.

Beattie was known for his aerial ability and strong left foot

Sean Hedges-Quinn was commissioned to design the bronze statue to be positioned outside Ipswich's Portman Road stadium - near the sculptor's existing statues of Sir Alf Ramsey and Sir Bobby Robson, who both managed Ipswich and England.