Gareth Evans relished the opportunity to finally say goodbye to the Fratton fans, four years after his emotional departure.

Blues supporters welcomed him back to Fratton Park for the inauguration of Pompey Four, and he expressed gratitude.

Evans reunited with League Two title-winning teammates Danny Rose and Kal Naismith for a Q&A session organized by Ian Darke on Friday in a crowded Victory Lounge.

Pompey fans included Kit Symons, Mark Chamberlain, Tommy Youlden, and Richie Reynolds, as well as perhaps 400 others.

Gareth Evans signs Sam Ford’s book at the Played Up Pompey Four launch at Fratton Park. Picture: Steve Reid.

The event collected £2,500 for Pompey In The Community and the Pompey History Society, with Pompey generously providing free use of the recently rebuilt Victory Lounge.

Evans, who left for Bradford in September 2020, returned to the club nearly exactly one year later.

He told The News: ‘It was my first time back at Fratton Park in four years, almost to the day since I left for Bradford, and to finally receive a bit of a goodbye was nice.

‘At the time, I said farewell on social media but never had the chance to do so properly. Because of how my career turned out, I never had another opportunity to play at Fratton Park.

‘The crowd were really friendly on Friday, as they usually are with me. Many of them seized the opportunity to express their gratitude for what I had done for the club and were extremely nice, even asking me to sign their books.

‘It was great to meet and chat with so many of them. The ground improvements are particularly impressive; everything appears to have changed dramatically, despite the fact that it was just four years ago.

‘I hadn’t seen Kal since he departed (May 2018); I’d never seen him in a playing capacity since he was always so far away from where I was stationed.