'Special’ Sean ‘took more stick than I’ve seen anyone take’
Christian Burgess sent former Pompey teammate Sean Raggett a classy message via social media following confirmation of his Fratton Park exit.
The defender - who started 29 games alongside ‘Raggs’ in the centre of the Blues defence during the 2019-20 season - praised the character the out-ofcontract player showed throughout his five seasons at PO4.
Burgess also said Raggett leaves Pompey as a legend following his contribution to this term’s League One title success.
Last Wednesday, the Blues published their 2024 retained list - with the centre-back one of 10 players guaranteed to leave the club upon the expiry of their contracts at the end of June.
After 44 appearances in all competitions this season and a runner-up spot in The News’ Pompey Player of the Season poll, the decision took many of the Fratton faithful by surprise.
Burgess, currently with Royal Union Saint-gilloise in the Belgian top flight, added to the tributes that appeared following confirmation of Raggett’s impending departure.
Writing on X, formerly Twitter, the 30-year-old said: ‘What a journey, took more stick than I’ve seen anyone take but kept bouncing back, proving people wrong and leaves the club a champion and a legend. Takes a special type of character. Congrats @ Seanraggett and all the best for the next step pal.’
There’s no doubt, Raggett will not be short of offers as he weighs up his next move.
The 30-year-old was last summer linked with a move to hometown club Gillingham, who are currently in League Two and boast Kenny Jackett – the man who signed Raggett for Pompey – as director of football.
Raggett and Burgess quickly became Jackett’s first-choice central defensive partnership during 2021920, limiting key summer signing Paul Downing to just six league appearances.
They partnered each other 29 times that campaign - including both legs of the Blues’ play-off semi-final defeat against Oxford on penalties.
The partnership was only broken up when Burgess left Fratton Park on a free transfer that summer to move to Union SG.
Raggett went on to make 239 appearances for Pompey, scoring 17 goals.