A Little glimpse of the Statue- And an Unveiling Heads Up

We all know football records only began in 1992 when the Premier League was formed, so it's correct that Danny was the 1st.

I've got visions of the Ambassador stood around waiting to reveal the statue sipping mate out of one of those fancy cups with a metal straw.

Some good coverage of the statue in the Uruguayan media..

Stockport County, a promotion football team in England, honoured Uruguayan Danny Bergara, the first foreign manager to manage in the UK, with a statue that was unveiled outside their stadium, Edgeley Park.

www.elpais.com.uy/ovacion/futbol/alberto-daniel-bergara-el-uruguayo-homenajeado-con-una-estatua-en-la-entrada-de-un-estadio-en-inglaterra?fbclid=IwAR22leRSFQTAXz6Hjqwqd8Msgai3JSr_iLPnEByhtu82pfoaq6kP7TeTUsY

Alberto Daniel Bergara, the Uruguayan honored with a statue at the entrance of a stadium in England

The Uruguayan ambassador to the United Kingdom, César Rodríguez Zavalla, was present at the inauguration of the monument.

Alberto Daniel Bergara immortalized with a statue.

By Juan Pablo Correa

Last Monday, May 8, the Uruguayan ambassador to the United Kingdom, César Rodríguez Zavalla, left London for Manchester at five in the morning. He had to be at 9.50 in Stockport, a town near the important metropolis of northern England. At that time, at the entrance of the Edgeley Park stadium of the Stockport County football club, he proceeded to discover the brand new statue of an idol of the fans of the institution, the Uruguayan Alberto Daniel Bergara de Medina.

Alberto ("Danny" to his Stockport County fans) was born in 1942 in Montevideo and died in Sheffield in 2007. He and his four brothers played for Racing Club de Montevideo. The eldest, Mario, was crack in the Academy and in Nacional, South American champion with the Uruguayan national team in 1959 (he was the scorer of the tournament) and member of the selection that played the 1962 World Cup in Chile. Another brother, Ignacio, played for Mallorca and Espanyol Barcelona and was coach of the Spanish Albacete. Ernesto defended Racing and Enrique defended the Albiverdes and River Plate. Federico, son of Enrique, was champion with both Peñarol and Nacional and also defended the sky-blue.

Returning to Alberto, after shining in Mallorca, Sevilla (of which he was scorer) and Tenerife, he arrived in England, in the northern industrial city of Sheffield, at the beginning of the decade of the 70s with his British wife Janet Turner. At a time when there were no foreign coaches in the UK, he reinvented himself by managing England's youth team and several battle-hardened northern British teams. His name was even shuffled to technically manage the senior team of Uruguay. Vehement, charismatic, friendly, intense, outgoing, everywhere he made himself loved.

Daniel Alberto Bergara as Sevilla player. Photo: www.dannybergarastatue.co.uk

In 1989 he arrived at Stockport, which was going through bad times at the time. He directed it for six seasons. He managed to promote it to Third and took it to the mythical Wembley Stadium where he played four finals of different tournaments. Players and fans idolized him for his passion and the way he made everyone believe that nothing was impossible. They regained their pride. Journalist Phil Brennan wrote Alberto's biography called "The man from Uruguay."

That's why fans now sing the song "Here is to the man from Uruguay" and "Danny Bergara's White and Blue Army" before each game. That's why the main stand at Edgeley Park is named after him, a street near the pitch bears his surname and the Uruguayan flag flies alongside the British flag at the clubhouse.

And for the same reason his admirers formed a cooperative and for months raised the money necessary for the sculptor Hannah Stewart to sculpt a smiling Alberto with his right arm raised in triumph. When the work was discovered, Jan and the children she had with Albert, Ellen and Simon, as well as other members of her proud family, were present.

That sculpture, at the entrance of his beloved Edgeley Park, will remember forever, in a corner of the British Isles, the legacy of that Uruguayan who left his mark on every place he passed.