After spending 12 years outside of the Championship, Portsmouth will finally return to the second tier next season after winning the League One title. The Portsmouth fans have been through a lot since that relegation in April 2012, but they’ve been the best team in League One by some distance this season with John Mousinho’s side doing enough to get the title wrapped up with two games still to play.
Pompey fans won’t have great memories of their last season in the Championship, of course. It was a turbulent season off the pitch to say the very least, and it all came to an end at the City Ground on April 28 as a Dextor Blackstock brace gave Nottingham Forest a 2-0 win over Michael Appleton’s Portsmouth on the final day of the season. But, what became of the side that represented Portsmouth that day? We take a look.
1. Jamie Ashdown
Ashdown spent the best days of his career with Portsmouth, making 123 appearances during his eight years at Fratton Park. He left in 2012 to join Leeds United but struggled for game time during his seasons there. He went on to represent Crawley Town and Oxford United before announcing his retirement in 2015. He briefly came out of retirement last season to represent Ascot United, where he had been working as a goalkeeper coach.
2. Joel Ward
Ward started his career with Portsmouth, but he has gone on to carve out a top flight career for himself at Crystal Palace. He has made 359 appearances for the Eagles and almost all of those have come as a Premier League player. He's still in the side at Selhurst Park and playing a role under new boss Oliver Glasner.
3. Aaron Mokoena
Mokoena was coming to the end of his career when Pompey were relegated from the Premier League. In order to save money, his contract was terminated shortly after relegation was confirmed and he was allowed to leave the club. He joined Bidvest Wits in July 2012 where he spent a year before retiring. He recently spent a period working as an assistant manager at Cape Town City.
4. Karim Rekik
Rekik has gone on to carve out a pretty impressive career for himself following his loan spell at Pompey from Manchester City. Temporary stints at Blackburn Rovers and PSV Eindhoven followed for the Dutchman before he was allowed to leave the Etihad Stadium to join Marseille in 2015. He has enjoyed spells with Hertha Berlin and Sevilla since, picking up four caps for the Netherlands along the way. He currently represents Abu Dhabi based side Al Jazira.