NEXT time football fans visit Deepdale to watch the Lillywhites they could be given the chance to step into the shoes of their hero -- Sir Tom Finney.

A local sculptor is on the lookout for a model to act out the North End legend's famous 1950s 'splash' pose.

Peter Hodgkinson, 36, has been planning the bronze statue as tribute to the England idol since the mid-nineties. But in the last few weeks the project has been given a boost by a pledge from PNE's management to raise the money in time for Sir Tom's 80th birthday in April.

Peter, from Deepdale, who works from a studio at the Barton Hall animal health centre, Garstang Road, Preston, is a lifelong North End fan.

He said: "I heard that Sheffield United, who put in a bid for the National Football Museum, had planned sculptures around the grounds. I'm a Tom Finney fan -- how can you not be? I never saw him play or anything, but I contacted PNE with the Finney statue idea." Peter has already built a prototype for the £100,000 twice life-size model that is due to go on display at the football museum in two weeks time.

Peter said: "I have talked about making the bronze statue in the PNE grounds or in some part of the building. So there are plenty of people I could just grab and use for the statue!

"But I'm not sure about 24-hour access there. Us artists like to work at strange hours. One day I might need to be working until midnight."

Peter, who studied at Preston College, added: "For the replica I was just working from photos. In many respects I am quite critical of it, you always are.

"It is really just a working model towards the final thing.

"I would be quite happy to get some footballers to model for it or people who are athletic with the same muscle structure.

"I would just be using photos of the models -- I would get the person in the splash pose and take of photos of them."