Pompey Promotion Eleven

Alan Knight

The Legend has been involved in three promotions with Pompey as a player. He was only a stand-in for Peter Mellor for the 1979/80 season, but the boy from Balham was an ever-present for the 1982/83 and 1986/87 campaigns. The latter saw him at the absolute peak of his powers with a mere 28 goals conceded in 41 games with 20 clean sheets.

Gareth Evans

The likeable Evans selflessly swapped the wing for the right-back slot in Paul Cook’s Div Two promotion season and duly put in a lot of hard yards for the team. He also stepped up to the penalty spot and succeeded where others had failed. None more famously than his cool finish against Notts County to start the promotion bandwagon rolling.

Steve Aizlewood

The hard-as-nails central defender played a vital role in Pompey’s climb out of Div Three during the 1983/84 season. Putting his battle-scarred face on the line for the cause during the march to the league title. He was a pillar at the back during the vital 2-0 win against Southend at the business end of the season.

Steve Davey

Plymouth-born Davey could do a job at both ends of the pitch. He was signed by Frank Burrows in 1978 as a battle-hardened striker but played the majority of his 92 league games as a centre back. His looping header against Northampton helped the Blues scramble a last-gasp promotion out of Div Four in the 1979/80 season.

Jamal Lowe

The indestructible Lowe went from non-league football at Hampton and Richmond and into the Pompey record books in less than six months. His two well-taken, promotion-clinching goals at Notts County redefined the meaning of the term ‘impact substitute’.

Kevin Dillon

Deadeye Dillon settled the nerves of the Fratton Park crowd with a vital goal in the 22nd minute of a must-win game against Southend in 1982/83. The stakes were high as victory meant certain promotion out of the old Div Three for the first time in seven seasons.

Paul Merson

The capture of Magic Man Merson from Aston Villa was arguably Harry Redknapp’s greatest piece of business while Pompey manager. The former Arsenal schemer was cut above during the 2002/03 Championship-winning season. Fittingly he scored one of the goals in a 3-2 home win against Rotherham that secured the title.

Jimmy Campbell

The lesser known Campbell scored the opening goal in the vital 2-1 victory over Watford on Easter Monday that brought the 1961/62 Division Three championship to Fratton Park. The St Pancras-born winger played 50 times for the Blues, scoring 12 times, before seemingly fading out of the record books and into semi-obscurity.

Billy Haines

Farmer’s Boy Haines lays claim to the most amazing of all promotion clinching heroics in a Pompey shirt. As not only did he notch 40 goals in the triumphant campaign of 1926/27, but he also scored four in a last day 5-1 home win over Preston that secured a First Division berth by the narrowest of goal averages. The stuff of legend.

Alan Biley

Cult hero and Rod Stewart hair model Biley was never one to disappoint the Fratton faithful, and it was his match-winning header from a Neil Webb cross against Southend in the 1982/83 season that made promotion certain and a pitch invasion inevitable.

Svetoslav Todorov

Bulgarian Toddy was on fire during the 2002/03 promotion season and his 26 goals went a long way towards Redknapp’s men securing Premiership football. His 73rd minute goal against Burnley was the promotion clincher and his head-first dive into the Fratton End to celebrate is long remembered by all who were there.