Pompey will this week step up the process of deciding which of their current soon-to-be out-of-contract players will remain at Fratton Park next season and be part of their Championship plans.
The club did not want to start the job of talking to players while their promotion and title hopes remained in the balance. But with a place in the second tier now secured, that part of proeccedings can now begin.
In total 14 members of the Blues’ title-winning squad and first-team operations are sitting nervously waiting to hear the club’s plans for them, with deals set to expire at the end of June.
Some tough decisions need to be made and, no doubt, some will leave PO4 disappointed that their time at the club has come to an end.
But whose futures are on the line? Here’s a reminder of the players currently in the final weeks of their existing Fratton Park deals.
Note: the figure does no include loanees who have spent the season at the club.
1. Joe Morrell
The midfielder missed the League One run-in after picking up a knee injury against Oxford on January 30. Up until that point, the Wales international had started 27 league games for John Mousinho's side - with two red cards preventing the 27-year-old from adding to that total. In his absence, the Blues recruited midfielders Owen Moxon and Lee Evans, whom helped deliver the League One title. Morrell, who has 105 Pompey appearances to him name over the past three years, has Championship experience with previous club Luton. The Blues have a one-year option on Morrell's contract. Photo: Jason Brown
2. Haji Mnoga
The Pompey Academy graduate has 18 Blues appearances to his name - but the last of those came in August 2022 against Crawley in the EFL Trophy, before heading to Gillingham on loan. The 22-year-old has spent each of the past three seasons away from Fratton Park, with National League side Aldershot his latest stop-off point. Mnoga has made 37 appearances for the Shots, who finished eighth in the National League table.
3. Sean Raggett
The defender ran Marlon Pack close in The News' Pompey player of the season poll, missing out by just one per cent in the vote. That's after he sat out large chunks of the opening months of the campaign as he played second fiddle to Regan Poole. He finished the season with 44 appearances, a League One winner's medal and chants from the Fratton faithful backing him for an England call-up! A cult figure at PO4, the ever-reliable has made more than 200 appearances for the Blues over the past four seasons.
4. Matt Macey
The keeper signed a short-term contract with Pompey in January after being without a club since his Luton departure last summer. He was unable to dislodge Will Norris as the Blues' No1, though, as he remained on the bench without making an appearance. The 29-year-old has 21 Pompey appearances after a loan spell from the Hatters over the second half of them 2022-23 season. Photo: Jason Brown