'It killed me inside watching my Portsmouth team-mates ': Ex-Preston and Liverpool man on three operations inside six months amid agonising first Fratton season

Not in terms of personal performance, the talented right-back is adamant he remains ‘proud’ of footballing standards in 26 Blues outings following his Preston arrival.

Neither does he particularly dwell over the unacceptable eighth-placed finish, despite left gazing enviously at Championship-bound Plymouth and Ipswich.

Rather the source of Rafferty’s dissatisfaction centres on undergoing three operations inside six months, dictating his absence from more than half of Pompey’s fixtures.

In September there was a hernia injury, in November it was an adductor strain, in March it was a broken nose.

The injuries – and operations – kept piling up for the luckless 29-year-old, who now desperately hopes for a change of fortune in 2023-24.

Rafferty told The News: ‘It was one of the most disappointing years of my career.

‘I had three operations in one season, it was an absolute nightmare. There was a hernia op, an adductor op, then I broke my nose, which was another operation.

‘The first injury was a hernia, they are normally the quickest turnaround, which is four weeks. So I did my four weeks – and then tore more adductor muscle.

‘It happened in shooting practice after a training session. Sometimes people want to put the blame on others, but it’s no-one’s fault. I am now old enough to say “I shouldn't do that”.

‘It was practice for the full team, if I don't feel comfortable doing something then I shouldn’t do it, I’d never put the blame on anyone else.

‘I probably should have said “Listen, I’ll go inside and do something else”. I didn’t and it caused an adductor injury. If I have one regret, that's it.

‘Kyle Walker had a very similar injury to me, we had the same surgeon. Although his was slightly earlier than mine and came at a time when he was trying to get back in time for the World Cup finals, not that you can compare us!

‘Then, three weeks after I came back from that, in March I broke my nose for the first time in my career.

‘I got an elbow at Cambridge United in March, so, during the game, I had to put something up my nose to stop the blood. It’s only a broken nose, you carry on.

‘I continued for a couple of weeks, but had to straighten that up because it was all over the place. I kept that one quiet and got it fixed on the Monday or the Tuesday – then played on the Saturday.

‘That was so painful. After the op, the nurse pulled the things out holding it in place and didn’t warn me it was going to be sore, I screamed!

‘It was my worst season with injuries, it just doesn’t compare to any other. Injuries in my career have been at a bare minimum, only the odd strains here and there, basically nothing else.

‘To be fair, I broke my back one towards the end of the 2020-21 campaign at Preston, but that was a quick fix, that’s fine.

‘Nothing like last season – and hopefully I’m over them now.’

The fresh start and fresh season kicks off against Bristol Rovers on Saturday.

A calf issue sustained in the opening friendly with Europa FC sidelined Rafferty for a little of pre-season, but he has now started the last two friendlies – and is expected to line up against Rovers at Fratton Park.

He added: ‘From a personal point of view, I was proud of my own performances last season because I know I played quite well, but being out for five months is naturally a massive disappointment.

‘It was killing me inside, to be honest, being miles away from home, injured and not being able to do what I came down here for, especially seeing the team’s form.

‘One player can’t change it, it definitely can’t, you just want to be able to try to affect it. Even if you can’t, I would rather be out there in the rut with the lads trying to help.

‘You look at Plymouth at the end of the season celebrating going up and being brilliant, fair play they deserved it. But you have to be looking at that thinking “I want a bit of that”.

‘Then there’s Ipswich, even though their budget blows everyone out of the water. But you have to be looking at that thinking that’s what we want, you have to aim for the top.

‘And that’s what we’ll be doing this season.’