It has been one hell of a season for Portsmouth Football Club and now that it's over there's going to be a lot of time to fill over the next month or so, especially with no England in Euro 2008.
So, as per Fratton Faithful tradition, we start with the events following that controversial 0-0 draw with Arsenal last May where Graham Poll ruled out a goal that would have taken us to Europe.
Looking back, that may have been a blessing in disguise as I don't think we would have lifted the FA Cup this year if we had UEFA Cup football to contend with.
Harry Redknapp didn't waste any time after that game with the Gunners as he persuaded Sylvain Distin to join Pompey on a free from Manchester City with Hermann Hreidarsson also joining the club at the end of the week following his release from relegated Charlton Athletic.
Pompey would then break their record transfer fee paid to another club by signing Sulley Muntari from Udinese for a reported £7 million.
The fixtures were released on the 14th of June and gave us an extremely difficult start, with a trip to a promoted side on the opening day and games with the "big four" in our first six fixtures.
Portsmouth FC were then named in the Lord Stevens Inquiry into corruption in football. This would be the start of a long, dwindling saga that is still yet to come to an end.
That didn't stop the signings coming though as Martin Cranie made the short move from Southampton to Portsmouth for a nominal fee after he saw the light and joined the South Coast's number one side.
As July began Pompey signed Arnold Mvuemba permanently from Rennes for £2 million and the club also unveiled their new look website which was great unless your computer didn't have flash.
As one arrived another departed and there were a few sad faces when Svetoslav Todorov rejected a new contract and joined Charlton Athletic. Unfortunately his season would once again be plagued by injury.
Avram Grant then left the club as executive director to take a similar role at Chelsea. Who would have thought that he would take over as manager, finish 2nd in the league and runners-up in the Champions League only to be sacked? That's modern football for you...
Pompey then revealed a major double swoop as David Nugent and John Utaka signed from Preston and Rennes respectively. The latter is supposedly our record signing at £8.1 million yet ironically these two big money players have arguably been the most disappointing this season.
The team then travelled to Somerset for the first game of pre-season.
14/07/07: Pre-Season Friendly #1: Yeovil Town 0 Pompey 2
A strongish side strolled to victory at Huish Park as Lomana LuaLua finished a one-on-one chance with the Glovers' goalkeeper and then a trialist who was revealed to be ex-Benfica man Geovanni tapped in a second goal before he moved to Manchester City.
Fratton Park was raided by police as the investigation into corruption in football continued. Meanwhile, the team travelled to West Leigh Park for the annual friendly against Havant & Waterlooville.
17/07/07: Pre-Season Friendly #2: Havant & Waterlooville 0 Pompey 2
A second string team scored twice in the second half to down the Hawks. Sean Davis lobbed Kevin Scriven for a rare goal and Franck Songo'o scored a second to seal the win.
A stronger side would be fielded a day later at the Silverlake Stadium.
18/07/07: Pre-Season Friendly #3: Eastleigh 0 Pompey 1
A solitary Benjani strike was enough to see off Eastleigh after Pompey dominated the majority of the game before jetting off to Hong Kong.
Pompey opened the new megatstore, I experienced a personal highlight after graduating from University and Harry Redknapp's men arrived in Hong Kong to take part in the Barclays Premier League Asia Trophy.
24/07/07: Barclays Asia Trophy Semi-Final: Pompey 1 Fulham 0
Benjani gave Pompey the lead on the stroke of half-time thanks to some persistence and a cool finish after David Healy headed straight at David James. The second half was scrappy but Matt Taylor hit the post before the win was confirmed. Liverpool beat South China in the other semi-final meaning we would play them in the final.
27/07/07: Barclays Asia Trophy Final: Liverpool 0 Pompey 0 (Pompey win 4-2 on penalties)
We were on the back foot most of the game with Dirk Kuyt missing a couple of great opportunities although Gary O'Neil should have scored when one-on-one with Reina. LuaLua hit the post in the second half and James made a couple of good saves to take the game straight to penalties.
John Utaka missed and Steven Gerrard scored to give Pompey the worst possible start but then Matt Taylor and Lomana LuaLua scored theirs whilst Fernando Torres had his spot kick saved after Kuyt buried his. Hermann scored, Jamo saved Benayoun's effort and Niko Kranjcar fired in the winning penalty to crown Pompey champions of Asia and send many Asian Liverpool fans home disappointed.
As I have relatives who support Liverpool, I felt the need to brag about this win and my Dad said something along the lines of "Calm down, it's not as if you've won the FA Cup is it? Big trophies are won by teams like us." Oh how I laugh at that statement now!
The triumphant team returned home to play Harry's old team at Dean Court for the final pre-season game of July.
31/07/07: Pre-Season Friendly #4: Bournemouth 1 Pompey 4
Niko Kranjcar opened the scoring with a deflected strike before Lomana LuaLua scored a second half hat-trick to send a message to Harry Redknapp. Darren Anderton featured for the Cherries but it was Brett Pittman who scored a late penalty to end Pompey's 100% defensive record in pre-season.
As we headed into August, Andy Griffin signed for our opening day opponents in Derby County whilst the rest of the squad travelled to the Isle of Wight for the next pre-season game.
01/08/07: Pre-Season Friendly #5: Newport IOW 0 Pompey 7
Gary O'Neil and Hermann Hreidarsson scored in the first 20 minutes before O'Neil scored again and then David Nugent grabbed a couple of goals before the break. Martin Cranie and Franck Songo'o struck two more to complete the rout at St. George's Park.
Sol Campbell was named as the new Pompey captain before Andrew Cole had his contract terminated, allowing him to move to Sunderland. The laughable Collins Mbesuma also left the club for Bursaspor in Turkey. Harry would then be re-united with old pal Milan Mandaric.
04/08/07: Pre-Season Friendly #6: Leicester City 1 Pompey 3
Iain Hume gave the Foxes the lead early on as it looked like we might lose to Leicester even in pre-season! However, David Nugent tapped in an equaliser and then in the second half Lomana LuaLua and Franck Songo'o scored to bury the bogey over Martin Allen's side.
So that wraps up pre-season. Kudos to you if you managed to read it all! Next season we'll be playing some pre-season games in Nigeria including one against Manchester United meaning we'll be playing them twice before the season even begins!