THIS WEEK IN 1987: Pompey fans go wild for the club's big win

Portsmouth was a city in triumph as jubilant fans and civic leaders toasted Pompey's return to the big time.

The lord mayor, Cllr Marie Seaman, was the first to pay tribute to the club which ended its 28-year exile from the First Division.

The Oldham’s 2-0 defeat at Shrewsbury’s Gay Meadow ground confirmed that Pompey would be promoted and their Lancastrian rivals would be left to scrap over the third ticket into the big time in the lottery of play-offs.

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Shrewbury’s win, so crucial to their hopes of staying in the Second Division, removed the mathematical possibility that Oldham could sneak into the frame ahead of Pompey.

Back in Portsmouth, open-topped buses ferried Pompey’s players, the club’s staff and all of their families from Fratton Park to the Guildhall to be greeted by their fans and entertained by the lord mayor.

Everywhere was blue and white. Fans stood on rooftops and balconies, car-tops and out of windows to get the best vantage point to see their team on their triumphal progress to the heart of the city.

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