Pompey's unsung hero steps down

After almost nine years of tirelessly serving the fan group, the 69-year-old has brought her involvement to an end.

In terms of the Trust, Wilkins was the last remaining member of the original steering committee formed in November 2009.

During that time she served as vice-chairperson, minutes secretary and became a constant presence outside the Trust bus behind the Fratton end on match days.

Now she has decided to call it quits – but intends to remain a regular at home and away matches involving her beloved Pompey.

Wilkins, from Southsea, said: ‘It is nearly nine years since we started the Trust and I have decided now is the time to retire from it. There is no ulterior motive for anyone to dig up.

‘It will give me more free time to do other things and I will still be involved with the History Society and the FSF’s Safe Standing Campaign.

‘I will be 70 in January and our former chairman Ken Malley was 70 when he passed away. I know he had been in ill health, but I don’t want to go on too long and not do other things.

‘The Trust is also completely different now to when we owned the club, it’s a different beast, but I’m really happy with the direction it’s going in with the suggestion that we’ll do some work with Pompey In the Community.

‘It’s not why I joined but I fully support that. I would like to see more campaigning on behalf of other trusts and clubs in trouble.

‘I just think it’s time to step down, it’s got some younger members on the board now, we need that, not old fogeys like me!

‘I was the only one still on the board from the early days, although Jo (Collins) is still around as an advisor.

‘It will be nine years in November, which is quite a long time for anyone to do.’

Wilkins must now also step down as the Trust’s representative on the club’s Heritage & Advisory Board.

And she remains proud of the fans’ achievements.

She added: ‘It was a huge achievement to save the club, I was incredibly proud to be part of that and it’s very sad to no longer be fan owned, not even a small percentage.

‘Some people still won’t accept how close the club was to liquidation, but it definitely was.

‘Trevor Birch told the bid team he had the liquidate because he couldn’t go on running with no funds.

‘A lot of the presidents started putting in money to pay the bills to keep the club going, otherwise we wouldn’t have had a club to save.’