You've got to be made of strong stuff to dress up as a furry character and spend your afternoon sweating in a suit with the objective of making people happy.
Being a football mascot is a unenviable job. You're likely to receive light-hearted chants from away supporters mocking your outfit but you’ve just got take it on the chin.
Pompey's mascot is called Nelson and he's a dog. Nelson was the mascot previously but during Pompey's time in the Premier League, their mascot was called Frogmore, and he was obviously a frog.
To give Nelson some background, about ten years ago, Nelson had a partner named Mary Rose and they had three kids called Archie-Royal and Georgie, and their adopted son Ted who was a Dalmatian.
In the present day, Nelson has a stand named after him at Fratton Park and that's called Nelson's Family Zone. Face painting, magic shows and matchday giveaways take place there before the match and before kick-off, the players not involved the match day squad make their way over to the young supporters to pose for photos and sign autographs.
If you're still reading after hearing the captivating back story of Nelson, we're going to see how he stacks up against the other mascots in the Championship. Some clubs are limited to having just one mascot and then other teams have a few characters that are either related or a completely different animal or object.
West Brom for example have a mascot called Baggie Bird because there is a bird on their badge, but they hilariously have a man/woman dressed as a boiler every game too.
Ideal Heating are the shirt sponsors of the Baggies and as part of the sponsorship, they have a mascot called 'Boiler Man' which is hilarious and explains his presence at games.
Keen to find out what the other mascots are called and how they look? Flick through our gallery to see Nelson and other mascots in the 2024/25 Championship.
