Born in Newcome Road, half a mile from the ground, its no surprise that Fratton Park is in my blood. I’ve now been a regular for fifty seven wonderfully erratic years – following Pompey is never boring - and despite moving to Devon 26 years ago, I’ve never kicked the habit.
I’ve been a member of the Football Supporters’ Federation for some years now and besides being a member of their National Council and Executive Committee, I am heavily involved in the International side as a volunteer on all of the Fans’ Embassies for England away fixtures. This has also resulted in me being the FSF’s team leader each year at the Football Supporters’ Europe Fans’ Congress.
Both organisations are free membership – join now at http://www.fsf.org.uk/join.php and http://www.fanseurope.org/en/join-us/membership-application-form.html
Through these organisations I have met fans from an assortment of supporters’ trusts and have admired their attempts to gain long-term influence of the way their football clubs are run. Having in the past helped in bucket collections and coffin-carrying, I’ve long felt the need for a ‘safety net’ at our club. I was therefore one of the originators of the Pompey Supporters’ Trust.
I’ve been fortunate to be elected to the Trust Board twice and am proud to serve as Vice-Chair for the last two years.
I always hoped that the Trust would, to the best of our ability, attempt to influence the running of the Club in a way that benefits a majority of supporters and the local community. Now we are suddenly in a position where we, ourselves, have to deliver.