Roberts Departs Pompey

Last updated : 08 August 2017 By Jim Bonner

Pompey have confirmed that Gary Roberts has been released from his contract by mutual consent.

The 33-year-old had a year remaining on his contract but Kenny Jackett had made it clear that he wasn't in his future plans as he was forced to train alone.

It's sad to see a player like Roberts go and he should always be remembered for the important goals he scored in his two years at the club rather than those matches which passed him by but now was probably the right time for him to leave amid questions about whether his legs could still hack it at League One level.

There was also the issue of freeing up the playing budget of high-earners coming towards the end of their careers and in all honesty if it was a choice between keeping Roberts or Carl Baker, the latter should be more valuable to Pompey this season.

Still, the way Gary was treated this pre-season in being made to train away from the first team suggests that something happened during pre-season, although we'll probably never know why.

All we can do is thank him for his services and his role in getting Portsmouth promoted as League Two Champions last season. We wish him all the best for the future.