Yesterday was not about the result, even if the additional prize money of finishing in 12th would have come in handy in the club's current predicament.
The 3,000 Blues fans present were always going to enjoy themselves either way – the Smurfs, the
Hawaiian-shirted brigade, the Niko fan club, each and every one of them.
Rather it was about the ending of one era – and the dawning of another.
The JJB Stadium formed the setting for a brave new world in April 2006 when Matt Taylor breathed new life into Pompey's top-flight existence.
The culmination of the Great Escape would provide the catalyst to Sacha Gaydamak's white-knuckle ride which would yield the FA Cup and two top-10 finishes.
Now it's all change once again.
When Phil Dowd sounded his final whistle it didn't merely mark a 1-0 home victory.
It signalled the curtain being brought down on three magnificent years.
Whatever happens from here on in, it's going to be a very different Portsmouth Football Club taking part in their seventh Premier League campaign.
For better or for worse, we all wait with nervous interest.
Many Blues players involved yesterday will no longer be at the club for the August 15 opener.
The glut of contract renewals required and the drive to slash a bulging wage bill will account for that.
Others may opt to move on in the interests of ambition, the likes of Glen Johnson and Niko Kranjcar among Pompey's most wanted.
As it turned out, Sean Davis and Johnson were robbed of a potential swansong, a stomach virus and hamstring respectively forcing them on to the sidelines.
The conspiracy theorists may have their own opinions on the relevance of that.
Irrespective, it remains to be seen if the duo will ever play for the club again.
Amid it all is the precarious ownership situation, a factor which will ultimately determine which way the Blues head next.
If Gaydamak remains, the outlook is gloomy. It's as black and white as that.
At least Paul Hart is set to still be in place and deservedly so, having preserved Pompey's precious Premier League status.
It just remains to be seen which calibre of players will be at his disposal for his first pre-season campaign.
Which makes yesterday's goings-on largely irrelevant.
Good job, too. It was a woeful end-of-season display from the visitors who were fortunate to scramble down the M6 with just a single-goal defeat.
Wigan were everything Pompey weren't – bright, imaginative, quick and full of invention.
Some of their football at times was a joy to behold.
The visitors' display was on a par with their last away day, that 2-0 defeat at Blackburn. Yes, they really were that abject.
Only Richard Hughes and Asmir Begovic can come out of the clash with any sort of credit, the Scot just shading it as the man of the match.
Yet on the grand scale of things, it mattered not.
Pompey stayed up, finishing 14th, and are back for another season in the Premier League.
Let's now just wait and see whether the top scorer, the skipper and the player of the year will return for that fresh campaign.
There were certainly no clues given away by out-of-contract trio Campbell, Kanu and Hermann Hreidarsson at the final whistle as they applauded the fantastic away following.
Sylvain Distin – one player still under contract – threw his shirt in the crowd. Then again, so did Asmir Begovic.
As for Jermaine Pennant, one whose departure is looking more and more likely, he had already left the pitch, brought off in the 73rd minute for Jerome Thomas.
His petulant reaction to Hart's decision saw him shun the manager's pat on the back, hurl his water bottle to the ground and storm into the dugout.
If that was his final act, it wasn't a good one.
Then again, if the match was a parting gift from any of those 13 players used, the fans would be exchanging it immediately.
Granted, Pompey were robbed of Davis, David Nugent and Nadir Belhadj by the stomach virus which swept through the camp.
It prompted a reshuffle, but a none-too catastrophic one, with Pennant, Younes Kaboul and Armand Traore returning to the starting line-up.
Meanwhile, player-of-the-season Johnson was sidelined by a hamstring strain, an absence which would inevitably be missed.
Sure enough, Wigan should have gone ahead as early as the seventh minute as they controlled the match from the off.
Antonio Valencia tricked his way into the box and fed Hugo Rodallega who somehow smashed the ball over the bar from six yards out.
It was strictly underwhelming from the Colombian striker – yet he would go on to become the hosts' most impressive performer.
In the meantime, Begovic did well to save Daniel de Ridder's stinging free-kick and then somehow beat out Rodallega's close-range effort when all looked lost.
The deadlock was broken almost inevitably on 27 minutes when Charles N'Zogbia crossed from the left, Campbell failed to cut out the ball and it fell to Wigan's in-form forward who tapped home into an empty net.
With the hosts dominating, Begovic again saved well from Mario Melchiot to keep the scoreline down within the opening 35 minutes.
After the break it was more of the same, Wigan's wastefulness in front of goal seeing both Valencia and Rodallega fire into the side netting.
In the end the 1-0 scoreline was an injustice for Wigan. Yet on the day Newcastle tumbled out of the Premier League, what did it matter?
Pompey are back for another season in the top flight. Sadly many of those on display will not be in a Blues shirt again.
It's the dawning of a new era. As good as it gets? Wait and see.
