Donald Trump’s former lawyer Joe Tacopina is ‘leading bid to buy English soccer club’
Donald Trump’s former lawyer Joe Tacopina has set his sights on English League Two club Tranmere Rovers FC, The Athletics is reporting.
The 58-year-old lawyer, media personality and sports executive is leading a consortium of potential investors in talks with Rovers’ current owner, with the proposed takeover only requiring approval from the English Football League to be completed, The Athletic reports.
Tacopina did not immediately respond to DailyMail.com’s request for comment Friday evening.
Tranmere, a club based across the River Mersey in north-west England, has been owned by former English Football Association chief executive Mark Palios since 2014.
Tacopina made a name for himself in the U.S. by defending everyone from Trump to Michael Jackson to Alex Rodriguez. He eventually left Trump’s legal team in January after representing the former president in the hush-money case involving porn actress Stormy Daniels and author E. Jean Carroll’s sexual abuse lawsuit.
Donald Trump sits with his lawyer Joe Tacopina in a New York courtroom on April 4
Leicester City captain Ricardo Pereira is fouled by two Tranmere Rovers players last month
Tranmere are seen facing Everton at Goodison Par Park in 1968
The Athletic compared his potential takeover of a Fourth Division club to Ryan Reynolds and Rob McElhenney’s purchase and revitalisation of Wrexham.
Tacopina, the son of Italian immigrants, previously had minority stakes in Roma and Bologna and now owns SPAL, a club in Italy’s Serie C.
Tacopina regularly appears in the media to provide his legal views on cable news networks including Fox News, CNN and Newsmax.
Tranmere Rovers FC was founded in 1884 and currently sits bottom of the EFL League Two table. Current manager Nigel Adkins is well known to fans after spells at Charlton Athletic, Hull City, Sheffield United, Reading and Southampton.
Other notable names in the club’s history include former Chelsea and Everton star Pat Nevin and Jon Aldrige, the record-breaking striker who ranks sixth in English football history with 330 goals.