Wycombe's promotion to the Championship after beating Oxford United 2-1 at Wembley in the play-off final brought to an end one of the most abhorrent, tedious and droll seasons of third tier football ever to be played in the English game.
It was a season that saw Bury go bust, Bolton reduced to playing their kids and receiving hammerings early in the season and then ultimately abruptly ended by the Covid-19 outbreak resulting in the division having to be decided by a points-per-game basis rather than sporting merit
From a Pompey fan's perspective it wasn't a great year to support the club. Yes, the team went the entire league season unbeaten at home but many people missed out on those games due to the amount of rearranged Saturday fixtures due to Victorious festival, international breaks and cup runs.
How many of those games were truly enjoyable to watch? You could probably count them on one hand. That, in addition to some awful away days, being heavily beaten by your arch rivals on your own turf and then blowing promotion in the play-offs yet again equals the poorest season since Pompey finished in a record low league position back in 2015.
Even the anticipation of another day out at Wembley for the EFL Trophy final was taken away for the fans who chose not to boycott the competition this year. There were few highlights to celebrate this campaign and there currently isn't much hope going into next season, either.
However, let's take a look at the best and the worst of the 2019/2020 season so we can finally put it all behind us and move on. There were eight awards up for grabs this season with the people of Twitter voting on the final outcomes. Here are the results:
PLAYER OF THE SEASON
Usually there are four candidates to choose from for each award but there were only three who could be worthy of this one this season. Ronan Curtis was Pompey's brightest attacking threat and received 15% of the vote. Hopefully he'll be up for this award again next season.
The runner-up was Mr. Winter himself; Tom Naylor who received 20% of the vote for holding the midfield together consistently during the season, only to be dropped for the two most important fixtures of the year.
It will come as no surprise that the runaway winner of this award with 65% of the vote was the outgoing Christian Burgess. He certainly upped his game this season and deserved all the accolades he got and not just for his actions off the pitch too. He's not irreplaceable like some people think but he will be missed, that's for sure.
Winner: Christian Burgess
SIGNING OF THE SEASON
Pompey's business in the transfer market last summer was always going to be scrutinised as Jackett somehow had to replace Matt Clarke and Jamal Lowe as well as address the balance of the squad.
The results were mixed to say the least and only 9% of voters thought Ellis Harrison was the best Blues' signing this season whilst the marquee addition of John Marquis reached just 13% as both players flattered to deceive for much of the season. How much of that was down to the players themselves rather than the mismanagement of them is up for debate, however.
Had this award been given out in January then there was no chance Sean Raggett would have received the 36% of the vote that he did. However, he managed to turn around his fortunes on the pitch with some solid performances alongside Burgess and chipped in with a couple of goals too.
That wasn't enough to beat Marcus Harness for the award, however. The man clearly has talent and an eye for goal and that earned him 42% of the vote. He has the potential to become better than the player he replaced if he can perform more consistency and he's given the licence to play with freedom. Fat chance of that with Jackett in charge.
Winner: Marcus Harness
GOAL OF THE SEASON
There weren't too many strikes that will live long in the memory this season with Harness' finish against Wimbledon (5%) being the best "team" goal scored this season. Ronan Curtis' long range scorchers against Harrogate (8%) and Rotherham (20%) were easy on the eye but the winner with a whopping two-thirds of the vote was Ben Close's beauty against Tranmere during the first home league game of the season.
Nobody will ever get tired of watching the ball fly into the top corner and the celebration that followed. One wonders how Close might have developed if he was playing for a manager who appreciated his technical ability...
Winner: Ben Close vs Tranmere
BEST HOME MATCH OF THE SEASON
An honourable mention for the 2-0 win over Sunderland here, although we should all forget the sponsors named Kenny Jackett as man of the match in what was the most cringiest moment of the season not involving John Westwood.
Pompey's 2-0 win over Wycombe (10%) finished in fourth place here and if you'd told anyone that it would be the Chairboys getting promoted at the end of the season they would have laughed in your face, Nathan Thompson style.
One of Pompey's best performances at Fratton Park was saved for the F.A. Cup against Barnsley as they ripped the Tykes apart and looked like a side capable of winning automatic promotion. That match got 23% of the vote whilst the most entertaining league game of the season, the 3-2 win over Rotherham, received 29% of the vote.
However, the best match of the season as chosen by 38% of voters was the 3-2 win over Exeter in the EFL Trophy semi-final courtesy of a crazy last twenty minutes at Fratton Park. A dreary tie that looked to see a weakened League Two outfit prevail over their more illustrious opponents was turned on its head with two goals in stoppage time to cap a ridiculous end to what was otherwise another hallmark of Kenny Jackett's dull brand of football.
Winner: Portsmouth 3 Exeter City 2 (EFL Trophy Semi-Final)
WORST HOME MATCH OF THE SEASON
There were only two real candidates here as the drab goalless draw with Gillingham (4%) was quickly forgotten about as was the 1-1 draw with Oxford in the league (4%) that had a significant amount of fans fighting amongst themselves regarding Kenny Jackett's future at the club after the U's pinched a late equaliser at Fratton Park.
The runner-up may have had some extra votes from a few Scummers but the flattering 4-0 win for Pompey's arch rivals received 24% of the vote. This was despite starting the game well and the only differences being a £20 million striker and Saints' superior fitness on the night as you would expect from a Premier League side. Still, at least the Pompey fans continued to support their team until the end whilst Southampton's support was shown to be as pathetic as we all know it is.
The winner of this award, as many would have expected, is the match where many fans lost all faith in Kenny Jackett and 67% of fans voted this as the worst home game of the season. To be 3-1 up against the ten men of Coventry and the 3-2 up against their nine men and still not win the game was unforgiveable.
Whilst the manager couldn't prevent his players conceding the penalties they did, his negative mentality and tactics allowed Coventry to throw everything forward with little risk of being picked off on the counter. It was a disgraceful result and turned many fans from "Jackett In" to "Jackett Out" that horrible Tuesday night.
Winner: Portsmouth 3 Coventry City 3
BEST AWAY MATCH OF THE SEASON
We've said it many years before, but Pompey's dreadful record on the road is the main reason they don't achieve the success they're capable of year after year and this season was no different with very few highlights away from Fratton Park to celebrate.
A 2-0 win over an awful Tranmere side was 10% of voters' favourite away day of the season whilst arguably the most impressive result, a 2-0 win over Lincoln whose home record was extremely good at the time, received 23% of the vote.
The 3-0 win over Rochdale at Spotland was a classy counter-attacking display and could have easily been more, hence why it got 29% of the vote but if there's one thing football fans enjoy more than easily beating the home team on their own turf it's shithousing an undeserved win in the last minute of the game.
Doncaster had battered Pompey at the Keepmoat Stadium in early October only for Gareth Evans to slot in the opener well against the run of play. Reece James looked to have netted a deserved equaliser for Rovers only for Harrison to somehow head the ball into the top corner of the net in stoppage time to steal all three points for Pompey.
Winner: Doncaster Rovers 1 Portsmouth 2
WORST AWAY MATCH OF THE SEASON
There were many candidates for this one but ultimately this award came down to just two options with the woeful 1-0 defeat at Wycombe (complete with "We want Jackett Out!" chants) and last-gasp defeat at AFC Wimbledon receiving just 6% and 8% of the vote respectfully.
Having beaten the top two teams at Fratton Park during the festive period many Pompey fans were hopeful of beating relegation threatened MK Dons only for their team to squander a good start and then capitulate to concede three goals with Curtis' late goal no more than a consolation.
Curtis also gave Pompey the lead in the game that wins this award, beating MK's result at 55% over 32%. Nobody will ever be able to live down the 4-1 thrashing by Accrington Stanley in Lancashire in a match that demonstrated how important Tom Naylor is to the team, having been banned for this game.
Ellis Harrison gifted Accrington an equaliser by heading in a stupid own goal and the floodgates opened afterwards. The scoreline really didn't flatter the hosts as Pompey were lucky to escape Lancashire having only conceded the four. A truly memorable day for all of the wrong reasons.
Winner: Accrington Stanley 4 Portsmouth 1
THE KENNY JACKETT "FUCK YOU" AWARD
Finally, we end this season's awards with a unique one. Kenny Jackett has managed to mistreat and privately anger many players over his tenure as Pompey manager but none more so than this season. But who was treated worse?
Brandan Haunstrup has clearly had enough of Jackett's shit as he prepares for a move to Scotland. He was given 6% of the vote whilst Craig MacGillivray was uncermoniously dropped from the team at the start of 2020 and was seemingly made a scapegoat for Pompey's poor defensive showings. He received 17% of the vote.
The runner-up with 22% of the vote was club captain Tom Naylor who must hope he never sees the sun again after Jackett dropped him for the play-offs citing seasonal weather as the reason. You have to wonder what has really gone on behind the scenes for Jackett to unceremoniously drop one of his most consistent performers over the last two seasons.
However, if there is one man who can truly claim to have been harshly treated by Jackett it's Brett Pitman and 53% of voters agreed with that. Arguably the team's best natural finisher, to be told not to bother to come to training and not even give a reason why or care what he does was extremely shitty treatment and Pitman deserved so much better.
Winner: Brett Pitman
That's it for this season. Hopefully, next summer we'll be celebrating something but let's not count on it, eh?