Ex-Preston North End man goes viral as Portsmouth's promotion party lapped up

Ex-Preston North End man Joe Rafferty achieved promotion with Portsmouth in midweek and lapped up the celebrations.

The Fratton Park club are back in the Championship after 12 long years, with former PNE midfielder John Mousinho the man to guide them there. Victory over Barnsley, on Tuesday night, not only sealed promotion for Pompey - but also the League One title. Rafferty was introduced in the first half of the game - his 37th league appearance of the season.

Portsmouth fans invaded the pitch at the final whistle and the scenes in and around Fratton Park were quite something. Those celebrations carried on in the city centre, with Mousinho’s squad spending the night in O’Neill’s bar. In there, a video of Rafferty mooning - during captain Marlon Pack’s speech - went viral on social media.

Rafferty spoke to the local media, alongside Paddy Lane, the day after the win over Barnsley. He made clear, in the summer, that he had seen Pompey as his quickest route back to the Championship - having expressed his belief that he could still play in PNE’s team ‘for a fact’. He was let go in the summer of 2022, having made 61 appearances for North End. The 30-year-old will be back in the second tier next season and fully expects Portsmouth to compete.

"I think we'll have a good go next season,” he said.” “Naturally, we will probably need a few players coming in. But, I think there has been a lot of improvement as a club - which has been needed. For next season, it will have to be more of the same. You are going into a bigger and better league, with better teams than we've come up against this season. So, we will have to strengthen and that's all we can do - go again and establish ourselves in the next season.”