Autobiography

walking out, either because we weren’t good
enough for him or supportive enough. If he
couldn’t get his own way he would play us one
against the other and use the media
unashamedly. I believed, at the time, that it
wasn’t in the best interest of the club if he left,
so I spent much of my time placating him as
best I could.
Yet the longer I worked with Trevor, the more
stressful it became for me. Towards the end
we rarely seemed to have an ordinary
conversation or exchange of views, and I was
always on tenterhooks waiting for him to make
his latest demand; be it new irrigation at the
training ground, an upgrade of the changing
rooms or improvements to his own personal
facilities Trevor had walked out for the first
time over a problem that arose between a fan
and his son Matthew after we had beaten QPR
1–0 in March 1998. I had left at the end of the
game to drive back to London to attend a
charity function, leaving Ralph and Jack
Wiseman in the boardroom. They were amazed
when Trevor walked in and told them he was
resigning. Jack did his best to calm Trevor
down, but he would not be pacified and left.
Trevor claimed the fans involved were abusive
throughout the game and had barged their way
into his private room where they verbally
abused his wife Helen and his son Matthew, as
well as some of the players. Trevor further
claimed that they had Matthew pinned up
against a car in the car park wanting to fight
him. I heard of his resignation when I arrived
at my hotel in London and hadn’t a clue why. I
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