‘The three times I’ve cried over football’
Along with Mick Williams and Ashley Brown, Mark Trapani was pivotal in the rise of fan ownership which overcame Portpin at the High Court to save the club.
Failure would have signalled liquidation and understandably emotional scenes greeted Mr Justice Peter Smith’s life-saving verdict, both within the courtroom and across the city.
With Iain Mcinnes installed as chairman, the trio formed part of a newlook Fratton Park board, with Trapani remaining for four years until the club’s sale to Tornante.
‘I have cried three times over football. Once coming out of the Rolls Building after saving the club and then promotions from League One and League Two,’ said Trapani.
‘I am a silly Latin, these things become very important to me and it stirs my emotions. To see those thousands of fans on the pitch against Barnsley made me very proud.
‘Before the game I walked up behind the Fratton End after paying my respects to
Jimmy Dickinson and people were patting me on the back, thanking me for the job that we’d done.
‘Goodness that’s a long time ago now, but people still remember, which is lovely.
‘During those days, there was one awful moment when Ashley,
Mick and I were sat in the front room and told the club was hours away from folding.
‘God bless Trevor Birch (below), who initially hated Mick and I. It was quite a heated discussion when we first met and he asked us to leave.
‘It was at Fratton Park and I said to him “Trevor, you need to help us too”. To which he replied “I’m only helping the creditors”. I thought “I get where you’re coming from, but please point us in the right direction!”.
‘We were told to come up with a business plan, which we had anyway, and later went through it with Trevor. He said that was a pivotal moment for him, he realised we had businessmen who ran successful businesses. We weren’t fly-by-nights. He took us seriously after that.”