'We were actually predicting promotion in pre-season': Joe Devera lifts lid on when Portsmouth nearly ended up in non-league football

Joe Devera still shudders at the thought of the wretched 2013-14 League Two campaign supposed to initiate the glorious rise of a former Premier League club on its knees.

The versatile defender arrived from Swindon in May 2013, eyeing further success having won the League Two title and then reached the League One play-off semi-finals in successive years.

Yet he soon grew to doubt giddy pre-season proclamations emanating from Guy Whittingham’s overhauled side that they were promotion candidates.

As it turned out, following a dismal 3-0 defeat at Rochdale in March 2014, the Blues were precariously placed in 22nd place.

With seven matches remaining, one point separated them from League Two’s two relegation spots.

Devera told The News: ‘That season was a shocker, an absolute shocker, you want to completely wipe it away from your memory.

‘Before the start, I remember there being talks about how we were going to get promoted, that to finish in the top three it was between us and these other clubs.

‘I was thinking “Why is it between us? Why are we going to get promoted?”. I hadn't seen a single thing to show me that would be possible, that suggested we would be competing.

‘All these talks about going up, but I wasn’t filled with confidence like others. I just couldn’t see it.

‘I had been promoted before with Swindon, I had relegation at Barnet, I can see the difference, I know what’s going to be needed.

‘For that first match against Oxford United, I will be honest with you, I wasn’t happy with how the pre-season had gone, I wasn’t going into the start of the season full of confidence.

‘To me, it hadn’t been a good pre-season in terms of fitness work, I didn’t feel at my best going into that game, I was undercooked.

‘I’m basing that opinion on the previous few pre-seasons at Swindon where, as a squad, we hit the ground running under Paolo Di Canio. We could have done more training at Pompey.

‘Another factor was we had a completely new squad, full of lots of new players that arrived that summer without time to gel, it was a ground zero squad.

‘Promotion? We only just managed to stay up.’

Critically, Andy Awford was handed the reins on a caretaker basis in March 2014 and challenged to keep Pompey up.

Stepping up as Academy head, he oversaw a remarkable four straight wins to ensure they achieved safety with three matches remaining.

With 16 points from a possible 18 over that period, he earned the Pompey manager’s job on a permanent basis ahead of the final fixture against Plymouth.

Devera added: ‘Awford was my favourite manager at Pompey, I really liked him – and he kept us up.

‘I remember thinking to myself: “If we get relegated, we’re going to have to pack up and never come back to the city again”. We’d be run out by the fans. It wasn’t an option, it just couldn’t happen.

‘We were demotivated, worn out and emotionally drained from not doing very well and having all that expectation on us only to underachieve massively.

‘Then Awford came in and put some life into us.’

MORE: Joe Devera: I ripped up my playing contract and walked away from football aged 30 to work for Saudi Arabia's Royal Family

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