Marlon Pack: My eyes started to well up at Portsmouth title celebrations
Portsmouth captain Marlon Pack had described how his “eyes started to well up” upon collecting the Sky Bet League One trophy during his team’s title celebrations on Sunday.
Pack came through the youth ranks at his hometown club and returned to Fratton Park in 2022 after 11 years away.
The season the skipper first left Pompey was the team’s last at Championship level, returning to the second tier following 12 years of footballing and financial turbulence in the lower divisions.
Administration forced Pack to be sold by the club, and through numerous owners and the brink of extinction for the 2008 FA Cup winners, the midfielder carved out an impressive career – but this promotion undoubtedly appears to be the honour that means the most.
With Portsmouth’s men’s and women’s teams both triumphing in their respective leagues this season, the club and its passionate fanbase shared the celebrations with the trophies at Southsea Common last Sunday afternoon.
“I didn’t know it was going to happen when I went up on stage, but my eyes started welling up a bit,” Pack told Portsmouth’s official website (30 April).
“I’m a Pompey fan and I’ve been there on the other side of the barrier in the past, so I was almost lost for words.”
In a footballing world becoming increasingly unrecognisable to many long-standing supporters, the fairytale of the ‘local lad who made it’ will always remain special – and Pack represents those who give their lives to Pompey from the terraces up and down the country.
“I’m getting emotional, but I grew up in a council estate in Buckland and I’m getting messages from people saying ‘you’re my son’s hero’.
“That legacy is so important for me. I’m a Portsmouth boy and have lived and breathed this football club.
“To go on and play for – and captain – my hometown club is special and hopefully it makes kids here believe it’s achievable for them.”
Portsmouth star Marlon Pack is one of us
As a boy born and raised in Portsmouth myself, Pack is – like many who have achieved similar at their own clubs – the one of us who pulled the shirt on, and lifted a trophy.
And make no mistake – with the rollercoaster of emotions Pompey and its fans have navigated through since Pack was an academy product here at Fratton – this is the trophy which stamps down a marker that such an era can finally be laid to rest.
Without taking any credit away from any of the other players who have given so much quality and dedication to claim the League One title, Pack will always be the frontman to remember that era by.
A multi-award-winning Player of the Year and named in the official EFL League One Team of the Season, for me, it is a no-brainer to tie Pack’s services down as the club seeks a steady debut campaign back in the Championship.
With a clutch of players learning their contract fate over recent days ahead of the publication of the club’s retained list, it is imperative that experienced players at the level – alongside the mentality of knowing exactly what it means – populate John Mousinho’s squad for the 2024-25 campaign.
In other Portsmouth news, Tayo Singerr helps Pompey Academy sign off in style.
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