Artist paints every manager sacked in Scotland and England

Crawley Town FC manager Mark Yates, pictured when he arrivedCrawley Town FC manager Mark Yates, pictured when he arrived
Crawley Town FC manager Mark Yates, pictured when he arrived
There are not many football managers who would want to look back on their failures but now an artist has captured those moments on canvas.

Fraser MacDonald, 30, has spent the whole season painting portraits of every manager sacked in England and Scotland including former Crawley Town boss Mark Yates.

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And now the football fanatic, from Huntly, Aberdeenshire, is selling the portraits in an auction.

Fraser has combined his love for football and art for the Sacked Portraits project.

He hopes the project will have sparked the interest of fans across the UK and keep them involved in art in the future.

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But he admitted it was often difficult to keep up with the amount of sackings going on in the different leagues.

Fraser said: “I have always wanted to do this since I was a kid. I always keep up with the papers and so obviously I read about a lot of managers who end up being sacked.

“Sometimes it’s hard to keep up with the amount of sackings going on, I’ve had to keep on top of the sports news and rely on friends letting me know about sackings as well.

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“And of course, there’s been a lot of managers who have been sacked this season. So I just started painting the portraits and posting them on social media.

“There have been some clubs who have sacked more than one manager.

“I’ve painted both Jackie McNamara and Mixu Paatelainen from Dundee United, and David Dunn and Darren Kelly at Oldham Athletic for example.

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“I also thought it would be a good way of getting football fans, or people who wouldn’t usually think about it, interested in art.”

Fraser has tried to get in touch with some of the managers he has painted but has had no luck so far.

He added: “I don’t know if any of the managers I’ve painted have saw them. The managers are impossible to track down so I can’t even contact them to let them know.

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“The thing is that I see this as more of a celebratory thing. I am in no way trying to annoy or offend any of these guys.”

The auction is going on until May 29 and Fraser also has plans to hold an exhibition of the portraits.

He said: “There’s been a good bit of interest in the paintings already but realistically, there will be more activity in the last few days.

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“The portrait of former Chelsea manager Jose Mourinho has had quite a lot of interest as you’d probably expect.

“I wanted to hold an exhibition in a football venue so I contacted various clubs and organisations.

“Out of all the big ones, FIFA were actually the only organisation that got back to me.

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“There’s a possibility the portraits may be exhibited at their offices in Zurich, Switzerland, in September.”

Despite the popularity of his project on social media, Fraser admitted he does not plan to it again next season and has different ideas in mind.

He added: “I’m actually planning to do something else with a friend next season where we interview low-league managers and paint false sponsor boards behind them to give them the full Premier League treatment.

“That’s just a bit of a laugh but we do hope to do it.”

Fraser’s paintings are available in auction at www.jumblebee.co.uk/sackedportraits.