UK soccer murals rated and slated from set-piece madness to boss-eyed Gareth

The football mural is having a moment. Up and down the UK, teams are painting the faces of their stars and heroes on the sides of buildings to honour their contributions to their clubs.

It’s bad news for statues, bronze busts now second choice over colourful paintings that can be put in more places and bring entire neighbourhoods to life – when they’re done well that is.

Trouble is, this isn’t always the case. That’s not to say that the artist who paints a bad mural hasn’t done a good job – although sometimes that is very much the case – but rather they miss the mark or seem a little bit out of place.

The latest arrival is Paul Scholes’ mug popping up in his hometown of Middleton, and before that Palace fans honoured former star forward Wilfred Zaha. They’re always news, usually good but it’s never a given.

So, take a flick through our photo gallery below for some of the best and worst murals and for our verdict on whether they’re works of art, or a perfectly good wall ruined.