Arsenal legend Martin Keown paid a special visit to a Holloway pub to unveil a statue of the first London BT Sport manager of the month.

The 51-year-old former England International celebrated and marked pub landlord Martin Whelan for his work of getting player from local teams into The Tollington pub, in Hornsey Road, Holloway, after their matches.

The unveiling and celebrations came as part of BT Sport’s new scheme to celebrate pub landlords across the UK who go the extra mile to create an amazing sporting experience for their customers and are rewarding them with their very own life-sized statue.

Martin Whelan, the pub landlord of The Tollington, said: “It was great to meet Martin Keown. “He arrived at our pub to unveil the manager of the month statue and signed lots of autographs for the fans.

“There’s been a lot of banter with the pub regulars and social media went crazy with lots of photos.

“I think one of the highlights was the crowd singing their version of the famous Bergkamp chant, which is still ringing in my ears, ‘Walking in a Martin Whelan wonderland’.”

The search for the next winners is already underway, with BT Sport inviting people to nominate their landlords, or for landlords to nominate themselves by tweeting @BTSportsBars using #BTMOTM.

BT Sport will be looking for landlords that go above and beyond to bring sport to their customers.

This could include the viewing experience or wider community projects that get people involved in sport.

BT Sport will select one landlord a month until June 2018 and each will be presented a trophy by a local sporting personality and a brand new 4K TV for their venue.

Bruce Cuthbert, director of commercial customers, said: “Pubs are at the heart of their communities and sport is a fantastic way of bringing people together.

“The BT Manager of the Month gives us the opportunity to recognise the landlords up and down the country who go that extra mile for their customers and their community.”