Statue of Football League founder William McGregor unveiled at Villa Park

A bronze statue of William McGregor, the Aston Villa director who founded the Football League, has been unveiled outside Villa Park.

The statue was unveiled on 28 November, honouring one of the most important figures in the history of football.

The father of the Football League

William McGregor, a Scottish draper who moved to Birmingham and ran a shop in Aston, became involved with Aston Villa in the club's early years. In the 1880s, as professional football grew, he became frustrated that clubs had no regular fixtures, relying instead on friendlies and cup ties that were often cancelled or mismatched.

In 1888, he wrote to other leading clubs proposing a league competition in which they would play each other home and away every season. The Football League was founded that year, with Villa among its twelve founding members, and it became the model for football leagues around the world.

A pioneering club

Aston Villa, founded in 1874, were one of the dominant clubs of the early years of the league. Under the direction of George Ramsay, appointed in 1886 as one of the first club managers in the world, Villa won six league titles and six FA Cups, and were the most successful club in England for many years.

Villa Park, the club's home since 1897, has become one of the most famous grounds in English football.

A lasting legacy

More than 120 years on, the league McGregor founded is still going strong. The Premier League, formed in 1992 when the top clubs broke away, grew out of it, and the Football League continues with 72 clubs across three divisions.

Supporters and football historians have long argued that McGregor deserves greater recognition. The statue gives him a permanent place outside the ground he knew so well.

Villa today

The unveiling comes during a strong season for Villa, who are challenging for a place in the top four of the Premier League under manager Martin O'Neill, and are through to the later stages of the League Cup.

A focal point

The club hopes the statue will become a meeting point for supporters on match days and a reminder of Villa's place in the history of the game. Many of the thousands of fans who pass it on their way to matches may not know McGregor's name, but they owe him the league competition that gives the football season its shape.

For Birmingham, the statue is also a reminder of the city's central role in the development of modern sport, from football to the many other clubs and competitions that began here.