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There’s little doubt that Wilson deserves some sort of public tribute. His importance to modern Manchester and its image, both locally and globally, can’t be underestimated, as his friend and Factory colleague Peter Saville, speaking on ´óÏó´«Ã½ Radio Manchester, explained:

Peter Saville

"He was Manchester’s spin doctor for the last quarter of a century. The greatest thing he did was conjure up a belief in Manchester and Manchester’s belief in itself.

"If those things hadn’t happened in Manchester over the last thirty years, Manchester would not be recognised in the world the way that it is. Even just within Great Britain, the recognition of modern Manchester has to do with this pop, cool, cultural character that it has and that is orientated around Factory and the Haçienda.

"He loved (Manchester). He had a sense of home there. It was like the whole city was his home and all the people there were his extended family."

Amongst the great and good

So the question is how best to pay tribute to the man? Peter says that a statue is a possibility as "Albert Square is full of memorials to the former great and good of the city and without a doubt, Tony ranks amongst those."

The tributes laid at the Hacienda

However, Anthony Wilson was known to be against such an idea and maybe, as a champion of the people of Manchester, it would feel wrong to set him apart on a pedestal. But if not a statue, what else?

A plaque on the side of the Haçienda seems appropriate, but then Tony’s philosophy was always to look forward and not wallow in the past. With that in mind, would a new festival like the now defunct Dpercussion, that celebrates the cutting edge of Manchester’s music and art, be the best thing?

Perhaps, though, the most fitting thing would be to simply give him his own FAC number – after all, the Factory catalogue is the most lasting legacy of Tony’s dedication to music and Manchester, plus it already contains a party, a lawsuit, a sculpture and a cat, so having the founder of the label on the list wouldn’t be an odd step.

It would probably appeal to Tony’s post-modern ideologies and it’s worth remembering that it was also the way that fellow Factory great and New Order manager Rob Gretton was commemorated back in 2004 (FAC 511 – And You, Forgotten?).