After spending 12 years outside of the Championship, Portsmouth will finally return to the second tier next season after winning the League One title. The Portsmouth fans have been through a lot since that relegation in April 2012, but they’ve been the best team in League One by some distance this season with John Mousinho’s side doing enough to get the title wrapped up with two games still to play.
Pompey fans won’t have great memories of their last season in the Championship, of course. It was a turbulent season off the pitch to say the very least, and it all came to an end at the City Ground on April 28 as a Dextor Blackstock brace gave Nottingham Forest a 2-0 win over Michael Appleton’s Portsmouth on the final day of the season. But, what became of the side that represented Portsmouth that day? We take a look.
9. Scott Allan
Allan had two loan spells with Portsmouth from West Bromwich Albion, going down with the club in 2012 before re-joining a few months later. He eventually left the Baggies permanently to join Hibernian before spending four seasons as a Celtic player, in which he had loans at Rotherham United, Dundee and Hibs, who he re-signed permanently for once more in 2014. The midfielder joined Arbroath in 2022 but he's spent this season on loan at Northern Irish club Larne. | Getty Images
10. Chris Maguire
Maguire joined Portsmouth on loan from Derby County and despite scoring three goals in 11 appearances, he couldn't help them beat the drop. The forward has had notable spells at Sheffield Wednesday, Oxford United and Sunderland since his time at Portsmouth, while also representing Coventry, Rotherham, Bury, Lincoln City and Ayr United. He is currently scoring goals at National League level with Eastleigh. | Getty Images
11. Luke Varney
A third member of this XI to join Leeds following the club's relegation. He went on to represent Blackburn Rovers, Ipswich Town, Burton Albion and Cheltenham Town before playing non-league with Quorn before eventually hanging up his boots in 2021. | Getty Images
12. Marco Futacs (sub)
Portsmouth signed the Hungarian from the reserve ranks at Werder Bremen in 2011, but he only spent one season on the south coast before joining Leicester City. He made nine appearances in two years for the Foxes with loans at Blackpool and Diosgyor coming before his release. The forward has since played for Mersin Idmanyurdu, Hajduk Split, Fehervar, Zalaegerszeg TE, Olimpija Ljubljana, MTK and Budapest Honved, joining the latter earlier this month. | Getty Images