Portsmouth party like there’s no tomorrow after going through wringer

Where was the most happening place on Tuesday night? With Mbappé’s boys in Barcelona? Among a stream of yellow flags in Westphalia? No, as much as we love Big Cup, the game does exist outside of it. The most exuberant celebrations were on the south coast at Fratton Park, where Portsmouth, after 12 years of lower-league shenanigans, sealed their return to the big-time (Championship). Theatricality marked the occasion, too. A point was required for promotion; three to win League One. After 82 minutes they were heading towards none, trailing 2-1 to visitors Barnsley. A Colby Bishop penalty and Conor Shaughnessy header later, they were champions. Cue the final whistle, your bog-standard pitch invasion, and a party like no tomorrow for a fanbase that has been put through the wringer; for a while there, tomorrow didn’t seem to be on the cards.

See, the good ol’ days for Pompey were also setting up the bad ones. Their FA Cup win under ‘Arry Redknapp in 2008 was the pinnacle, and a Big Vase appearance later that year saw them take a 2-0 lead at home against Milan (Ronaldinho and Pippo Inzaghi were the late killjoys, making it 2-2). But the whole thing was propped up on a spenny wage bill, and their 2009-10 campaign makes the first season of Sunderland ‘Til I Die look like a Richard Curtis film. There were four different owners, one of whom, Sulaiman Al-Fahim, lasted six weeks and was later sentenced to five years in prison for nicking £5m from his wife to buy the club (naturally, this was all after he had passed the Premier League’s ‘fit and proper person’ test). The club entered administration in February, was deducted nine points and finished bottom, but somehow, reached another FA Cup final before Didier Drogba said enough’s enough. ShoutSport’s Jamie O’Hara was their player of the season.

The existential crisis didn’t stop there, with another spell in administration two years later and relegation to the fourth tier in 2013. The saving grace proved to be the Pompey Supporters Trust taking over the club shortly before life began in League Two. Previously tossed around in a game of hot potato between suits, Portsmouth FC were finally within the safe embrace of their fans, and a little over a year later were declared debt-free. In a bid to get back to the top and continue the fairytale, the PST sold up in 2017 to the Tornante Group, led by the former Disney chief Michael Eisner. Yeah, just a bit on the nose.

The man leading things from the dugout this season is John Mousinho – yes, the Pro Evolution Soccer version of the Special One – while the captain is Marlon Pack, a local lad who rejoined the club in 2022 having come through the youth set-up and sat on the bench during their horrid final year in the Premier League. “This was the exact reason I came back to this club: the visualisation of what it would be like to be on a stage or an open-top bus where the fans have come out to congregate together and celebrate,” Pack told Big Website last week, looking ahead to the prospect of victory. Now he is very much living it.

Join Sarah Rendell at 7pm BST for WSL updates on Chelsea 3-0 Aston Villa, then Scott Murray will be on hand at 8pm for Big Cup coverage of Bayern Munich 3-2 Arsenal (5-4 agg), while Barry Glendenning will be all over Manchester City 2-2 Real Madrid (5-5 agg, 6-5 pens).

“It’s a pity. Our [Big Cup] is over due to the referee’s mistake. I just told the referee that he’s been a disaster. It’s the reality … since I am here, all of them were against us. All of them. I mean, all of them” – Xavi takes Barcelona’s 4-6 aggregate exit to Kylian Mbappé and his PSG pals well.

The bit about penalty arguments in yesterday’s Football Daily reminded me of Steve Nicol’s miss in the 1984 European Cup final shootout. With senior squad members arguing over the order the penalties were going to be taken (after the 1-1 draw against Roma in their own stadium) they turn round to see Nicol, then 22 and on as a sub, has taken matters into his own hands and is striding towards the penalty spot with the ball under his arm. As Nicol tells it: ‘For the only time in my career, I don’t feel in full control. I start my run-up. Then, midway through, I lift my head and look where I want to put the ball. A classic mistake. The ball soars over the bar.’ While some of the members of the team sympathised with the youngster, the ever-forgiving Mark Lawrenson walked up and said: ‘Unlucky Nico, you d1ckhead!’ Fortunately, the Italians’ own penalty blunders and Bruce Grobbelaar’s spaghetti legs got the lad out of trouble” – Martin McGrath.

Tony Adams revealed he was due to take the penalty that made Gareth Southgate infamous, against Germany in the Euro 96 semi-final, but the current England manager stepped up instead as he felt confident that ‘he had this’. Oh Gareth!” – Alex Metcalfe.

Send letters to the.boss@theguardian.com. Today’s winner of our prizeless letter o’ the day is … Martin McGrath.

Mansfield Town will join Wrexham and Stockport in League One next season after a 2-1 win over Accrington Stanley lifted them above the fourth tier for the first time in more than two decades. There were euphoric scenes at full-time as fans streamed on to the pitch to get a pyro party going. Manager Nigel Clough was among the throng and clearly loving it. “It is a special night and an unbelievable achievement for Mansfield to be playing in the league above for the first time in 22 years,” he whooped, from within a yellow cloud of smoke. “It’s taken three years and quite a bit of pain to get to this point. It doesn’t matter what happened in previous seasons, we’ve done it in this one. This is for the thousands that were here tonight, some people have been supporting the club for 50-60 years – it’s for them. They have seen some quite low times here over the years, so it’s lovely they can enjoy tonight.”

In Tuesday’s other madcap Big Cup tie, Borussia Dortmund saw off Atlético Madrid 4-2 (5-4 agg) having established a two-goal lead, chucked it away, then restored it at the last. The 2013 losing finalists will meet 2020 losing finalists PSG in the semis.

Turning to Wednesday’s Big Cup action, Jude Bellingham has said joining Real Madrid was a “no-brainer”. “The size of the club, the project going forward, the chance to play with such amazing players. I just jumped at it,” he roared, before the trip to Manchester City.

Emma Hayes has warned Chelsea fans not to take her team of serial winners for granted. As the defending WSL champions prepared for Wednesday’s key tussle with Aston Villa, the Blues manager said: “I only care about the fans and I care that they realise that the level of success we’ve had is difficult”.

Already-relegated Rotherham have hoofed Leam Richardson through the door marked Do One after clearly disagreeing with the manager’s opinion that there is no one “better” than him for the job and paying Stevenage compensation to bring Steve Evans back for a second stint.

It’s a quiet run-in at Sunderland, with the Black Cats becalmed in mid-table in the Championship. No matter, reasons the Sunderland Echo, one of their own (sort of) has overseen a promotion elsewhere. Divert the open-top bus parade from Mansfield to the north-east now!

And Romário, actually 58, has registered as a player for America-RJ, the Rio de Janeiro club he is chief suit of. “I’m not going to compete in the championship, but rather play a few games for the team of my heart and make another dream come true, playing alongside my son,” he whooped on Instachat.

Henry Winter probably became the closest thing football journalism has ever had to a celebrity (ahem – Football Daily Ed) but the game, and the way we consume it, has changed, writes Jonathan Liew.

Arsenal still have what it takes to topple Bayern, but the pressure is on and it won’t be easy, writes Nick Ames. And Real Madrid will be no pushovers for double-treble hunters Manchester City either, warns Jamie Jackson.

Audacity. Ingenuity. Imagination. Cole Palmer prompts Paul MacInnes to use all those words and more about the Chelsea sensation.

Simon Goodley analyses and untangles the ever-bewildering state of Everton’s finances. It’s not pretty.

And which Premier League players have represented countries with the lowest Fifa ranking? The Knowledge knows.

May 1934: Here’s something you don’t see any more: a footballer running a pub. Former Chelsea and Scotland winger Alex Jackson poses with regulars in his Covent Garden hostelry. It looks like he was doing a roaring trade. This was taken some years since Jackson had played his last professional league game but he was still active in the lower leagues. There’s an interesting piece on him here.