By the 1938-39 season, Portsmouth had established themselves in the top flight of English football and consolidated the fact by reaching the final of the FA Cup. Their manager Jack Tinn did not chalk their success up to the quality of the team, their tactics or any individual players efforts, rather, he attributed the achievement to his “lucky spats” that he wore in every round. In their third time in the FA Cup final, Portsmouth managed to defeat heavy favourites Wolverhampton 4-1 in what was dubbed by the British press as “The Monkey Gland Final”. The reason for this was that testosterone injections had been used by both teams that season.

 

The next season began in August 1939. A month later, Germany invaded Poland and the day after this event, all teams across the Football League played their third, and what would be their last, game of the season. The following day, Sunday 3rd September 1939, the British declared war on Germany. The Emergency Powers Act kicked into gear and large crowds were banned, however football continued on through the conflict. The Football League was split into 10 regional mini-leagues and Portsmouth were placed in what was called League South. Due to the Second World War, the next FA Cup final did not take place until 7 years later in 1946 – thereby enabling Portsmouth fans to claim that their team has held the cup for the longest time. Tinn was quoted as saying that he kept the FA Cup trophy safe “under his bed” through the war years.

 

The city of Portsmouth served as a large naval base, and during the war, the club took advantage of all the footballers posted in the city due to call ups for service in The Royal Navy, recruiting many of them to compete for the club in the Wartime League on a temporary basis. One such player was Andy Black from Rangers, who once scored 8 goals in one game for Portsmouth, in a 16-1 thrashing of Clapton Orient. In the Golden Jubilee anniversary year of the Football League, and under a new manager named Bob Jackson, Portsmouth won the league title 5 points clear of second placed Manchester United. They were also tipped to win the FA Cup and become the first club in the 20th century to win the double, but it wasn’t to be when they crashed out to Leicester City.

 

Portsmouth’s second title came on the last day of the 1949-50 season when a 5-1 defeat of Aston Villa made them one of only 5 teams to have won back to back titles since World War II. The clubs only note worthy event during the ensuing years when Fratton Park hosted the first ever Football League game under floodlights against Newcastle United in 1956. Pompey continually suffered worsening results and they were finally relegated to Division Two in 1959.

Achievements: Football League First Division – Champions x2
                              FA Cup – Winners x1