'Gutted' - League One title winner opens up on Portsmouth departure as he hopes to join them in the Championship

Joe Rafferty admits he was 'gutted' when he was told that Pompey wouldn't be retaining his services in the summer.

The 31-year-old played in 39 of Pompey's 46 games in their title-winning campaign last year. He hailed it as the best season of his career but despite his efforts he wasn't kept on.

Pompey opted to keep Zak Swanson and brought in Jordan Williams on a free transfer from Barnsley. The pair have alternated in the position over the course of the campaign whilst Terry Devlin has also slotted in to the role.

After being let go by Pompey, the right-back joined Rotherham United who had swapped places with the Blues after finishing bottom in the Championship. Rafferty is now hopeful of joining his former side in the division next season in a push for the play-offs with the Millers.

Joe Rafferty on his Pompey departure

Rafferty was brought to Fratton Park on a two-year deal in 2022 when Danny Cowley was in charge. He played 26 games across all competitions in his first campaign and then followed it up by playing 42 times in his second and final year on the South Coast.

In total, he made 68 appearances over the course of two seasons. He admitted that he was surprised by the decision to let him go but that John Mousinho had explained the direction they were going in and although he disagreed with it, he still views Pompey in a positive light.

‘What we [Portsmouth] achieved last season was unbelievable, it was the best season of my career,” Rafferty told SportsBoom.

‘But I was gutted when they told me I wasn’t going to get a new deal."

‘I was really surprised, but I spoke with the manager [John Mousinho] and he told me that he had lined up a young player to come in and the club were going in a different direction."

‘It was hard to take, even the fans were shocked, but as much as I disagreed, we shook hands and did things professionally. There was no massive falling out or anything like that."

‘Unfortunately, that’s football and you have to move on – and that’s what I’ve done.’

Late play-off push with Rotherham United

After being relegated from the Championship and going on a strong recruitment drive, signing Rafferty who had just won the league title, Rotherham looked well placed to mount a serious push for promotion. With a little over the quarter of the season left however they perhaps find themselves lower than expected.

Steve Evans' side are 14th, a whole 15-points off the play-offs. There is still a belief from Rafferty however that they can be in the mix come the end of the season.

‘Hopefully, I can achieve the same success with Rotherham,’ he added. When I signed, I thought we had a really good chance of promotion – and that’s not changed.

‘It’s a building process. Everyone expects the club to go straight back up, but it doesn’t work like that."

‘It’s such a tough division. Just looked at Wrexham and Stockport, who have both come up, they’ve invested and want to get into the Championship and are doing really well this season.

‘But apart from Birmingham, who are blowing everybody away, I really do this league is there for the taking."

‘This season has not been as good as we would have hoped for, but two or three wins on the trot and we could be in the play-off mix."

‘We’ve just got to keep battling and see what happens because there’s still a lot of games left.”