Simon Cope has been involved with the Supporters Trust since 2006

Scarborough Athletic chairman Simon Cope has won the first Richard Lillicrap award from supporters' trust advisors Supporters Direct.

The award is for Cope's commitment and effort with the Trust movement.

Cope told BBC Radio York: "It's an enormous honour. This is the only honour that Supporters Direct give out.

"Out of all the Supporters Trusts, about 140, to be recognised as doing a fantastic job at Scarborough is a huge honour for the club and the town."

Cope has been chairman of what became the Seadog Trust since 2006 when the previous Scarborough Football Club was under threat.

I'm guessing the award is because of not just the work that I've done for Scarborough. We've helped out a few other Supporters Trusts Scarborough Athletic chairman Simon Cope

He then became chairman of Scarborough Athletic when the club was formed by the Trust in 2007 when the old club went out of existence.

He said: "I'm guessing the award is because of not just the work that I've done for Scarborough. We've helped out a few other Supporters Trusts where we can as well.

"We've had a lot of dialogue with Halifax Town Supporters Trust when Halifax went bust in the summer so they were looking to possibly set up a new club in Trust ownership.

"I've spent a lot of time advising them with direct experience with Scarborough.

"I think the people of Supporters Direct recognised the amount of work that I've done for the wider Supporters Trust community."

Supporters Direct is the government-backed group that oversees all supporters trusts and supporter-owned football clubs.