Charity for stars facing hard times

TODAY Sportsmail is throwing its support behind the Reposm Sporting Housing Trust, a new charity formed to help with affordable homes for former sports stars who have fallen on hard times. Reposm is trying to raise £2million to build its first block of sheltered accommodation and has the backing of Sir Alex Ferguson and Sir John Major. The Professional Footballers’ Association are also in talks to put their considerable financial muscle behind the scheme. ‘It is the first of three proposals we are giving serious consideration to, as a spread throughout the country,’ said PFA supremo Gordon Taylor. Reposm has grown from sources in football and cricket to become a cause capable of uniting all sports. Former Tottenham manager David Pleat has championed, through the League Managers Association, an idea to provide retirement housing for a generation of players, coaches, managers and scouts who have devoted their lives to football. Former Surrey cricket chairman Mike Soper was underway with his own initiative to help former cricketers who stumble into financial trouble and encounter homelessness as their careers come to an end. The two strands have become

entwined in a single project led by soper, who has served for years on the board of a successful sheltered housing scheme for former artists and performers, in partnership with a housing association in Dorset. ‘David Pleat was the inspiration,’ Ferguson told Sportsmail. ‘and he has worked hard to help sportsmen and women to get the help they thoroughly deserve, at a time when they most need it.’ Former Prime Minister Major said: ‘all sports lovers have their heroes — they are always remembered in their prime. But heroes age. Their skills fade. so does the memory of them. The Reposm charity has been established to help and house those who have fallen on hard times.’ soper and Paul sheldon, a former chief executive at surrey, will pitch their business plan to the PFa next month, hoping the union will inject finances into the fundraising effort. They want to launch with a unit of 12 homes which they believe will help to fight loneliness and keep mental illness and dementia at bay.