Ex-Portsmouth and Everton man's shock Football League return after four-and-a-half year absence as 15 players sign in a day
A former Pompey player has made a surprise return to the Football League - four-and-a-half years after leaving it.
Ben Tollitt spent the second half of last season on loan at Chester in National North, helping them finish 10th.
Now he’s jumped two divisions to find himself back in League Two, among 15 signings announced by Morecambe on Friday.
The 29-year-old was a free agent after falling out of favour with National League side Oldham, who released him on a free transfer this summer at the end of his contract.
Yet with new Morecambe boss Derek Adams overseeing a necessary overhaul, he has swooped for Tollitt, who once spent 18 months with Pompey in League Two.
That marks a Football League reunion for the winger, having last featured there in February 2020 while on loan at Macclesfield from Blackpool.
Since then he has occupied non-league football with Fylde, Oldham, Kidderminster (loan) and Chester (loan).
However, with Morecambe’s registration embargo removed by the Football League on Thursday, they have unveiled 15 new signings - with Tollitt among them.
Others include Harry Burgoyne, Luke Hendrie, Ross Millen, Max Taylor, Jamie Stott, David Tutonda, Adam Lewis, George Ray, Tom White, Paul Lewis, Yann Songo’o, Jordan Slew and Hallam Hope.
Tollitt, who has signed a 12-month deal, was recruited by Pompey boss Paul Cook from Skelmersdale in the summer of 2015 following a successful pre-season trial.
The former Everton Academy product went on to make 18 appearances and scored once during 18 months on the south coast.
Although he featured just twice in their 2016-17 League Two title-winning season, both coming as starts in cup competitions, before leaving for Tranmere in December 2016 after impressing during a loan spell.
Tollitt’s finest Pompey moment was a scoring entrance as a substitute in the 6-0 hammering of York in November 2015, with Marc McNulty getting a hat-trick.
Following his Fratton Park exit, he featured for Tranmere, Blackpool, Wrexham (two spells) and Macclesfield, before dropping into non-league.
Now Morecambe have offered a pathway back, with Adams having returned for his third spell in charge of the club earlier this month.