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Morrissey claims sole credit for The Smiths’ iconic Salford Lads’ Club photo shoot idea

He's back with another one.

Danny Jones - 13th April 2026

Morrissey is once again raising the issue of credit and disputes over The Smiths’ legacy, as the controversial former frontman has now claimed that their iconic photo shoot outside of Salford Lads’ Club was entirely his idea.

The 66-year-old lead singer turned solo star from Urmston is no stranger to sparking debates and attracting controversy, and it seems his latest is to do with one of the most iconic images in British music history, let alone just Greater Manchester.

Writing an official statement on his website, which has since been shared across social media, even the Salford Lads and Girls’ Club have seen fit to repost the message.

Put simply, he says, “it was solely my idea”.

MORRISSEY HAS SPOKEN ‼️ pic.twitter.com/RTVJGM9L3l

— Salford Lads' Club (@salfordladsclub) April 12, 2026

The Davyhulme-born bard and divisive artist goes on to claim that the other co-founding members of the iconic Manc band initially viewed as more of his “lunacy” – the suggestion seemingly being (as it often is with Morrissey) that they simply didn’t understand the ‘genius’ at the time.

Many of his most die-hard fans still believe that most don’t and never will.

He even jokes that, in another life, it could very well have been something entirely different and random, such as the Kellogg’s factory in Trafford, basically suggesting that other members would have simply followed suit.

In his words, he argues that “now millions of people come from all over the world to be photographed on that very spot, it is claimed as a Smiths idea. It wasn’t, it isn’t, and it never shall be.”

Once again, this is by no means the first time he’s called into question, ‘who did what’ and/or who owns what bit of intellectual property; in fact, there was apparently another one of these instances with Johnny Marr only recently.

‘Moz’ and Marr have been at loggerheads pretty much ever since the group disbanded back in 1987, and still look to be far away from seeing eye to eye on virtually anything.

It was only back in September 2024 that his fellow former bandmate had to deny claims that he’d acquired ‘100% of the rights to The Smiths IP and could tour under the name without ‘The Pope of Mope’ himself.

One thing’s for sure: whatever part of the past Mozza will bring up next remains a mystery, but as always, at least we’ve always got the tunes.

Read more:

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• Beyond The Music reveals first wave of lineup ahead of inaugural Salford edition
• 20 of the best record shops in and around Greater Manchester

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Featured Images — Printerval/dullhunk/Christoph!(via Flickr)