‘Has he accidentally stepped on a piece of Lego?’ Scottish club’s ‘Braveheart’ statue leads to mockery & Mel Gibson-bashing

Football fans and social media users have piled on to a small Scottish club after a bizarre and "horrendous" Braveheart statue was unveiled yesterday at their ground and photos of the event were later shared online.

As part of a statement, Brechin City Football Club said they were "delighted" to "host the unveiling of the Braveheart Statue yesterday afternoon at its new home at Glebe Park."

"The sun and crowds came out for a fantastic day to honor the craftsmanship of Brechiner Tommy Church and it was brilliant to see the community of all ages turn out in numbers to support the event," added the club, which currently stands in fifth place in the Highland League of Scottish football's third tier.

A local newsreader unveiled the statue to the applause of a crowd, as Chairman Kevin Mackie and a compere were thanked.

"It was brilliant to see the community of all ages turn out in numbers to support the event," the minnows added, as it was elsewhere revealed that a bucket collection "raised a brilliant amount" for charity and Brechin City's various youth teams also played on the senior team's turf.

Yet not everyone shared such enthusiasm for the William Wallace tribute, and made their feelings known in the comments section. 

"My god, that’s horrendous," began a top-rated reply.

"A statue of an Australian anti-Semitic actor playing the character of a Scotsman from 700 years ago plonked outside a football stadium?" it was asked, in reference to the star and director of the 1995 box-office smash Braveheart and his past legal troubles. 

"Why have you accidentally carved a statue of Mel Gibson with his kilt caught in a train door?" was another question alongside a manic and lengthy "hahaha".

"Wallace didn’t look anything like that."

"Wallace never wore a kilt, mate," came a reply to this.

"They arrived way after he was dead, as any historian will tell you. That’s a statue of Mel Gibson standing on a bit of Lego. It’s Brechin’s Fulham Michael Jackson makes no sense moment."

The statue is just one of many in sports to fall far of the mark.

Most recently, UFC welterweight legend Georges St-Pierre had one unveiled in the Montreal suburb of Saint-Isidore he grew up in, and was thrilled.

Yet some said it looked more like ex-US President Barack Obama, or joked that GSP had met Bicentennial Man from the late Robin Williams' 1999 bomb film when photos of that particular unveiling were released.

The most infamous of all, however, was the bust made for football superstar Cristiano Ronaldo and put up at the airport on his home island of Madeira in Portugal.

Eventually taken down, its creator and former cleaner Emanuel Santos said: "Even Jesus did not please everyone. This is a matter of taste, it’s not as simple as it seems."

Other botch-jobs include a "Hobbit dipped in tar" in tribute to CR7's new Manchester United coach Ole Gunnar Solskjaer in Norway and a "Marv from Home Alone" offering for Mohamed Salah.