Thank you very much: Derby reunion with man whose Portsmouth exit for Ipswich transformed Fratton fortunes - and his own career

At the time, the Blues could never have realised the significance of Marcus Harness departing for Ipswich in a July 2022 deal worth around £650,000.

Ultimately, Harness went on to win successive promotions with the Tractor Boys and also feature in the Premier League this season, although is currently on loan to Derby.

While for Pompey, the windfall was used to capture Bishop from Accrington Stanley for £500,000 and, thanks to his goals, they now find themselves back in the Championship after a 12-year absence.

The Blues had started the summer of 2022 by taking up the club option on Harness’ contract, thereby extending his three-year stay by another 12 months.

Following 31 goals in 134 appearances, he represented a rare saleable asset in a side which had finished a disappointing 10th in League One to miss out on the play-offs in successive seasons.

Sure enough, with the former Burton man keen on a change and Danny Cowley - Pompey’s head coach at the time - eager to boost his spending power, a deal was agreed with Ipswich.

The Blues now possessed the finances to dramatically land Bishop after his switch to Championship Blackpool had fallen through - and 47 goals later he has etched his name into Fratton folklore.

Indeed, it was fitting that Bishop successfully netted a penalty as John Mousinho’s men staged a late fightback to triumph 3-2 over Barnsley in April to win the League One title.

Since leaving Fratton Park two-and-a-half years ago, Harness has also claimed promotion, two to be precise, albeit having largely been restricted to a substitute role.

Of his 89 matches for Ipswich, a staggering 51 have come from the bench, while he has netted 12 times.

At the start of this term, he represented them in the Premier League, with sub appearances against Liverpool and Manchester City during the opening month.

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However, the 28-year-old moved to Pride Park on a season-long loan at the end of August following the Rams’ Championship return after finishing runners-up to Pompey.

He has subsequently netted once in 15 outings, yet again finds himself primarily used from the bench for Paul Warne’s 17th-placed team.

Indeed, he featured as a substitute in Derby’s last two fixtures at Burnley and Leeds and could well retain the role for Pompey’s Friday night visit.

In contrast, Harness was a substitute for just 17 of his 134 Blues matches during a stay in which his goalscoring blossomed, including a hat-trick at Burton, and he demonstrated great potential, but frustratingly couldn’t quite nail down consistency.

Still, there’ll be a Pride Park reunion on Friday night, although Pompey will feel they got the better half of the deal.