Portsmouth's 23 reasons to be cheerful: Why Blues should relish brutal Championship welcome back

A staggering travelling crowd of 1,001 were present in Lancashire for the televised 12.30pm kick-off - 39.54 per cent of the attendance - in the League Two fixture.

Guy Whittingham’s men had appeared to be heading for a 2-1 triumph thanks to David Connolly’s double - only for Murphy’s 85th-minute headed leveller to secure a 2-2 draw.

This coming August represents 11 years since that sobering Crown Ground moment, only this time the opposition will be Leeds in the 2024-25 Championship opener.

The Fratton faithful have longed to return to that level. They’ve endured defeats at York, losses at Cheltenham, Captain Pugwash at Fleetwood, been buried at Bury, surrendered a three-goal lead at Southend, suffered Barry Roche at Morecambe, and been caught by a lack of toilets at Forest Green.

The joys of registering new grounds with each gloriously uncharted away trip have been replaced by dreary familiarity. Once it was a refreshing experience, now it’s a trudging chore.

Still, following promotion as League One champions, John Mousinho’s men have finally been served with their fixture list.

In addition to Leeds, the opening seven weeks of the Championship campaign also includes play-off semi-finalists West Brom, along with Burnley, Sheffield United and Luton, who all occupied the Premier League last season.

If that doesn’t represent a brutal enough start to the season, there are also Middlesbrough and Sunderland - all before September 28.

Of course the Blues will play each team twice and obviously this is a tougher division than those they encountered in the previous 12 years, nonetheless it’s a nightmare beginning for any freshly-promoted team.

Those realistic members of the Fratton faithful will show empathy, patience and understanding over the perils posed by those opening seven league matches.

Although undoubtedly others of a more hysterical nature will be calling for the head coach’s dismissal and hammering players should a flying start not be secured during that period and the Blues fail to occupy the top 10.

Welcome to the Championship, Pompey. How we’ve missed it and those 23 clubs representing the great and the good of the game.

Life has changed considerably since they were last among the numbers in 2011-12, certainly financially it is unrecognisable, yet this has been the overriding ambition for more than a decade. These are the challenges the club have long wanted to savour.

It’s a tough start, surely even the most argumentatively obtuse can acknowledge that, but this is Championship football. Facing Leeds, Swansea, Blackburn and Watford should be the norm - not merely restricted to cup encounters.

The road will be bumpy, there will be frustrations along the way, Mousinho will be questioned, recruitment will be criticised, the owners will be called out over their ambition. That’s normal, that’s football.

Most importantly, Pompey are back, a club transformed since meekly bidding farewell in April 2012. This is where they belong, the tough task ahead against 23 fresh rivals should be cherished, not feared, irrespective of dangers which lie in wait.

Mousinho’s men - backed by the magnificent Fratton faithful - will stand up and scrap to remain at this level. This is no time to cower in the corner, cursing fixture lists and agonising over indeterminable outcomes in late June. It has taken too long to get back here, too many good people have been lost along the way.

The alternative is a trip to Leyton Orient on the opening day of 2024-25, which incidentally is the fate of League One Bolton.