Crying with Paul Cook, Champagne with Kenneth Clarke and resignation bombshells - Iain McInnes on Portsmouth's remarkable Meadow Lane promotion

They were soon joined at their table by Kenneth Clarke. Brimming with congratulations and bonhomie, the former Conservative MP heavyweight became an unlikely drinking companion on a day which entered Fratton folklore.

It was three years ago today when the Blues’ 3-1 victory at Notts County finally signalled an escape from League Two, their demoralising backdrop for four seasons.

Jamal Lowe’s entrance from the bench inspired the moment, striking twice in the final 13 minutes, while rivals Luton’s 1-1 draw at Mansfield was conclusive.

The vast majority of the 4,366 visiting Pompey number swarmed onto the Meadow Lane pitch, while Magpies owner Alan Hardy maintained the hospitable nature by delivering alcohol to the jubilant away dressing room and allowing celebrations to be staged on the concourse situated in front of the boardroom.

Yet while those of Blues persuasion rejoiced, chairman McInnes and manager Cook had taken refuge inside, huddled in contemplative conversation.

The touching moment drew tears – and mutual admiration soon shared with an ex-chancellor and home secretary.

McInnes said: ‘It was a wonderful day at Meadow Lane. Me and Cookie both cried afterwards in their boardroom, while Ken Clarke was also there.

‘Ken is a great character, loves his football, loves a cigar, loves his drink, he was the best Prime Minister we never had.

‘You always look at people and think “Could I sit at the bar and have a drink with them?”. Now I could sit with anyone – and Ken Clarke would be right at the top of that list.

‘I had met him a couple of times, he went to university with my life-long pal, Clive. The first time was in Ronnie Scott’s Jazz club, he was smoking a cigar and drinking a pint, which he was prone to do. The second time was in Bishop’s Stortford, where Clive had retired to.

‘Then I noticed Ken at the Notts County match, he was ordering a triple brandy in the boardroom before kick-off, so we had a chat.

‘After our 3-1 win to be promoted, outside the boardroom area was a concourse, with lots of people jumping up and down being excited – and rightly so. Then I turned to the right and saw Cookie had come up the stairs.

‘He pointed to me saying “You, me in there” and signalled to the boardroom. I thought he was going to have a go at me after all the fall-outs we’d had during the season!

‘What I didn’t realise until I got into the boardroom was that we were the only two in it, their chairman having locked it up so we could have a quiet chat in the corner.

‘The Peroni was stacking up, the chairman came across with a lovely bottle of champagne, and we had been chatting for about 20 minutes before Ken Clarke joined us. He hadn’t been given the information that the boardroom was closed, so I had persuaded them to let him in.

‘So there we were, the three of us, having a real old chat about life in general. It’s a moment I will always treasure.

‘That season wasn’t all plain sailing, you know. We had the episode of the two players fighting in the dressing room and people sitting around the (boardroom) table thinking that was a loss of discipline.

‘There were quite a lot of brows furrowed about Cookie’s behaviour at times, although I didn’t know all the stories about town. However, we’d been through a lot together, it was a special relationship, and we shed a tear. Unashamedly, we shed a tear.

‘He’s gregarious on the outside, but one of the reasons why he will never go to the level he is capable of from a football perspective is because he’s so down to earth.

‘Cookie would call me an old-fashioned chairman, I think it was ‘fashioned’, perhaps he just called me old, but we had that kind of relationship.

‘It was in it together, warts and all, great fun, never acrimonious and always straight up. I loved every minute of it, I think he did too, and I will take that to the grave with me.’

It was during those April 2017 celebrations on the Meadow Lane balcony when McInnes revealed to The News he would be stepping down as chairman.

With a shareholder vote scheduled for the following month to decide whether to ratify Tornante’s proposed takeover, he recognised a new era was looming.Such timing of his announcement was not particularly well received by fellow Blues board members – while shocked the manager.

As ever, McInnes’ passion could not be suppressed.

He added: ‘I got a bit of stick afterwards for declaring I was probably going to leave.

‘I will be honest, if you remember the Plymouth play-off defeat, they didn’t criticise me for talking when I was the only one who showed his face because everyone else was in a room crying their eyes out.

‘At Notts County, we had just got the ship to port, so to speak, it was all a bit emotional, and I thought “What the hell”.

‘Especially with so much going around internally about the Tornante buy-out and people positioning themselves.

‘We were a boy band around that boardroom table and some of us had had enough of each other by the time we got promoted. That’s the reality of life.’

Having announced his intention to stand down after four years as Pompey chairman, it proved a fitting finale.

In his last match – and a swansong for fan ownership before Tornante completed their August 2017 takeover – Cook’s men triumphed 6-1 over Cheltenham to seize the League Two title.

Pompey were third heading into that match, with Plymouth and Doncaster widely regarded as battling it out for the league crown on that final day.

Instead, the Blues emerged as champions – although they had to wait until the following morning to receive their prized silverware.

McInnes added: ‘On that final day, the Football League people turned up at Fratton Park without cups, badges, shields or anything.

‘Before the game, I asked where the League Two trophy was. I told them: “You’ve got a couple of hours, go and get it”.

‘They looked at me, then Mark (Catlin) tried to smooth it. I carried on: “I don’t understand it, where do you expect us to finish in the league?”. They replied they didn’t think we’d win it.

‘My wife, Jane, told me off for upsetting them. I said: ‘I haven’t upset them, they’ve upset me. How dare they come here to a match we could win without the trophy”.

‘Okay, it was unlikely, wasn’t it, let’s be honest, but you don’t take unlikely in football, do you?

‘That day at Plymouth flashed past me and that is why Cookie and I were so close at Notts County.

‘So for them to turn up against Cheltenham and not even give us a chance to win it, well it infuriated me. Sure enough, we had another celebration that night.

‘Cookie and I are ordinary blokes, there’s no airs and graces about us, we like a drink, we like a bit of fun and we weren’t everybody’s cup of tea. We always wanted to be with the fans, after all, the heartbeat of a football club is the fans.

‘We have promised to meet up one last time. We’ve said we’ll go back to Ireland, where he will manage and I will buy the football club.

‘That seems like a great place for us to all go and end up drinking ourselves to death!’