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MADE JIM SMILE
Raul Jimenez in tribute to Wolves fans after they raised £20k for banner at Molineux & charity after horror head injury
RAUL JIMENEZ paid tribute to Wolves fans who raised £20,000 in his honour at Molineux - with £16,200 of that going to a CHARITY of the striker's choosing.
The Mexican striker, 29, picked up a horror injury at Arsenal when he fractured his skull in a sickening clash of heads with David Luiz.
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And supporters of the West Midlands side clubbed together to pay homage to the forward at their stadium.
Fans from across the globe pitched in to raise a staggering £20,000, with fan and award-winning signage designer David Purcell of DIS Graphic producing an incredible £3.8k banner.
Purcell refused to make a profit from the work and provided it at cost price.
The remainder of the cash raised, a huge £16,200, will be donated to charity.
And Purcell told SunSport: "As a lifelong Wolves fan it's always been ace to work with the club and when I found out the banner was a gesture to show support to Raul after his horrific injury, I just had to help out.
"It was a horrible injury. It's been a horrible year and it puts things into perspective when you see a poor guy on the floor like that.
"For fans of a small club in the Black Country we do our bit quite well.
"Wolves Twitter can get a bit negative sometimes but when the chips are down we all stand by each other, so I'm really proud of the fans."
The real kicker is that Jimenez will be allowed to choose where that money is donated with the recovering Mexican yet to decide.
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The giant 45m x 11m banner stretches across the upper tier of the Steve Bull stand.
Purcell loaned four men - entirely free of charge - for a day to install the banner.
It is PVC free and shows different images of Jimenez playing and celebrating for the side.
One section depicts him in his famous Mexican wrestler mask, while another shows him wheeling away with his arms outstretched after bagging yet another goal for Nuno Espirito Santo's team.
The Spanish words 'Fuerza Raul' are incorporated into the design which translates 'Strength Raul'.
Jimenez was quick to thanks fans who chipped in after supporter Kieran Newey came up with the idea.
Newey set up the crowd funding page and ran the competition that saw Louise Cobold's design picked via fan vote from a pool of 27 submissions.
'WITHIN AN HOUR WE HAD HIT THE TARGET'
And having seen the stomach churning incident live on TV, Newey told SunSport: "I felt sickened. If you ever see someone lifeless on the floor, in the recovery position you can tell it's serious.
"It was scary knowing Raul has a young baby at home and his partner Daniella would have been watching. That's where it stemmed from - the worry and the not knowing what was going to happen to him.
"But at times like that as football fans, that's really when we come together - regardless of who we support - and back players to the hilt.
"We were having a conversation about what we could do to show Raul support while no one was in the stand.
"We were just expecting it to be a small pitch-side banner but it snowballed from there.
"Within an hour of setting up the crowd funding page we had hit the initial target of £7,500 which was unbelievable. And then it went mad and we were way above it within a couple of hours.
"We wanted it to be completely fan led and we didn't want the club to be too much a part of it as we wanted to show Raul it was from the fans rather than the club.
"We had designs from Mexico, Australia and America.
"This has made Wolves' fans' bond with Raul even stronger."
Jimenez shared a video of the artwork and wrote: "Amazing!
"I am very grateful to all the people who have been supporting me during this process.
"To my fans, to my team-mates, to all who have sent their love, it means everything to me and my family. Thank you very much!"
Fans also flew a get well banner over the stadium ahead of Wolves' game against Aston Villa on Saturday lunchtime.
A plane flew past with the words: "Get well soon Wolves AYWE."
The heartfelt message followed by the fan slogan was broadcast to millions of TV viewers around the world and quickly went viral on Twitter.
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Earlier this week Jimenez returned to Wolves' training ground for the first time since the incident at the Emirates.
And his dad also insisted the striker's horror injury 'won’t have any consequences' on his playing career.
Raul Jimenez is back home after head injury, Wolves boss Nuno Espirito Santo confirms
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