Meet the man sculpting Leeds United legends including Marcelo Bielsa and Howard Wilkinson for charity

Tony Clark, owner of Clark Sculptures, first made the news in 2020 after he raised over £9,000 for the charity Mind, auctioning off a life-sized statue of former Leeds United manager Marcelo Bielsa.

Now Tony is fundraising again and has created a sculpture of Howard Wilkinson, as there was a huge demand from fans to create a memento of the former Whites manager nicknamed 'Sergeant Wilko'.

Speaking to the Yorkshire Evening Post, Tony said: “I started sculpting in 2020 when I did the bronze Bielsa statue, I only did one and donated it to charity but then there was this huge demand for miniatures after we won promotion.

“It sort of went from there and then more recently I completed a Howard Wilkinson statue and had the idea to arrange to meet Howard and get seven signed.”

The signed statue was recently won at auction - for £560 - by Craig, a season ticket holder at Leeds United. All proceeds are being donated to Howard’s charity of choice - St. Luke's Sheffield Hospice.

Sheffield-born Wilkinson wrote his name into Leeds United legend as the manager who led the side to the old First Division championship title in 1992, the final season before the creation of the Premier League.

Talking on the sculpting process, Tony said: “I’m classed as an artistic creator, which means I use my head and the artists hands so I work with a team of artists in Bali who sculpt out of clay.

“Once I’m happy with the product, they will create a mould from the clay in fibre glass and from there it can be coated in anything from copper and bronze to resin.”

Since starting the company in 2020, Tony has sculpted a host of Leeds greats past and present including Billy Bremner, Jack Charlton, Kalvin Philips and even current manager Daniel Farke.

During the Covid-19 pandemic, Tony’s 5ft 3in bronze statue of Captain Sir Tom Moore was auctioned off on eBay at a price of £29,000.

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Revealing the one statue he just couldn’t crack, Tony added: “I did a Gary Speed statue last year, it took four or five months but I just wasn’t happy with it.

“It was obviously such an emotional one to do but I just couldn’t get it right so in the end I had to cancel it.”