Portsmouth are finally looking like they are stable enough to mount a charge at promotion, and ultimately climb the Football League ladder in the hope of eventually reaching the promised land of the Premier League once more.

After years in the wilderness, they sit in 4th place in the League Two table and with a very realistic chance of winning promotion to League One come the end of the season.

Over the years though, there has been some extremely bad signings - as well as a few good ones I might add - and these players have contributed to the long term downfall of a club who won the FA Cup as recent as 2008.

For Portsmouth fans, it has been a long journey just to get back to having a club which doesn't look like it is going to close for business every other week, and this is something in itself they can be proud of after the influx of big money failures in years gone by.

We at FLW have taken a look at FIVE of the most pointless signings made by Portsmouth.........

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PRESS THE IMAGE BELOW TO SEE THE FIVE PLAYERS!

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Djimi Traore

The Mali international is often a name thrown up in discussions about Premier League footballers and how they made a career out of the game when being so poor, so why Portsmouth thought it would be wise to sign him in 2007 remains a mystery.

He joined Pompey after completing only half an unsuccessful season with Charlton Athletic, and in a two year stay with the club managed less than 20 appearances, with a loan spell at Rennes chucked in the middle of it all.

He eventually joined Birmingham on a three month emergency loan towards the end of his spell and put and end to his miserable time on the South Coast.

Traore will forever go down as one of the oddest signings made by Pompey, that is for sure.

Lee Mills

Mills joined the club in the year 2000 for a then club record fee of £1.25m, and came with a reputation as a real goal getter who was going to fire Pompey to success.

However, things didn't quite turn out well for Mills, and he was a huge flop.

His first season yielded only five goals in over 20 appearances for the club, and the side even struggled to pay his transfer fee, breaching FA rules and going under embargo in the process.

Mills was farmed out on loan during his second year at Fratton Park in a move to Coventry City, which eventually turned into a move for £250k, representing a swift £1m loss on a player who offered very little.

Mills is often remembered by Pompey fans, that it cannot be denied, however, he is remembered for all the wrong reasons!

Kostas Chalkias

Chalkias was brought to Portsmouth from Greek giants Panathanaikos as a potential replacement for the effervescent Shaka Hislop.

A Greek international, plenty was expected of him. However, after being chucked in at the deep end in a local Derby with Southampton and delivering a shaky performance to the say the least, Chalkias never really got any better.

Only another four appearances followed in a Portsmouth shirt, and he was swiftly replaced in goal by Jamie Ashdown, himself not the best goalkeeper going.

Nicknamed "Cost Us" by Pompey fans in linking to his name, Chalkias will forever go down as one of the worst goalkeepers to grace the Premier League.

Remarkably upon leaving the South Coast, Chalkias regained the number 1 jersey for the Greek National team. One can only assume the Greeks had a mass shortage of quality between the sticks at the time!

Carl Tiler

Signed by then manager Graham Rix in 2001 from Charlton Athletic, Tiler commanded a decent fee at the time for the club of £250k.

The centre half though endured a miserable time on the South Coast, and is often remembered as being one of the worst defenders to ever play for the club by fans.

He made only 19 appearances in an ill fated spell with the club which spanned 2 years, before being forced to retire in 2003 amid a spate of injuries.

Tiler was once seen as one of the game's best up and coming talents in the country, but he never fulfilled that apparent talent, and this move to Pompey in a way summed up his career quite perfectly.

Jhon Viafara

If you mention Jhon Viafara to many football fans, you would probably be met with a resounding "Who??".

However, not to Pompey fans, who had to witness the club spend over £2m on a player who was quite clearly not good enough for the English game.

Signed by then manager Alain Perrin, Viafara made only 14 appearances before Perrin was sacked and replaced by Harry Redknapp. The former Spurs manager soon realised what he had in Viafara, and in January of the same season, allowed him to leave on loan to Sociedad.

Viafara would eventually return to England and play for Pompey rivals Southampton, where he had a more successful time of things playing in the lower leagues of English football.

The Colombian did have some degree of talent, but at £2m, and contributing not a lot to Pompey, many fans still wonder what was the point in signing the midfielder.