An acrimonious Portsmouth exit and sorely missed - now it's a new career for Fratton Park favourite
The winger made 41 appearances and scored five times in his second Fratton Park spell
Matt Ritchie arrived at Fratton Park with unfinished business and then abruptly left with business still unfinished.
Now, nine-and-a-half months later, he is carving out a new career in football after hanging up his boots to become Bournemouth’s technical director.
There were periods last season when the veteran’s absence was hugely felt, with Pompey crying out for his quality and leadership amid attacking struggles.
Ritchie’s establishment in John Mousinho’s first-team in November 2024, plus Colby Bishop’s subsequent return from open-heart surgery, transformed a struggling Blues season in 2024-25.
Transformed Pompey’s season
Finally handed a run in the starting XI at Hull, the former Newcastle man’s pressing game, energy and touch of class would be one of the pivotal reasons why Pompey stayed up that season.
Having started one of the opening 12 Championship fixtures - and with the League One champions rooted to the foot of the table - Mousinho suddenly turned to Ritchie for inspiration.
Occupying the right wing, he subsequently started 27 of the next 32 league games as a Pompey side written off as relegation certainties, even by some of their own fans, rallied impressively.
Fittingly, Ritchie scored what would prove to be his final Blues goal in the 5-3 Good Friday demolition of Norwich in April 2025 - and was also on the pitch when safety was secured against Watford three days later.
At times that season he skippered Pompey, an immense honour for the proud Gosport lad who, at the age of 35, was such an integral part of his club’s survival with two matches to spare.
Yet this wouldn’t be the Fratton Park happy ending that Richie would have craved after returning in August 2024 following a 13-and-a-half year absence.
John Mousinho bust-up
Such was the extent of an explosive disagreement with Mousinho over future playing time that the former Toon favourite was earmarked for a summer departure - despite still having another 12 months remaining on his contract.
Ritchie had already been excluded from pre-season training ahead of not being on the plane for the week-long training camp at the X-Bionic Sphere in Samorin, Slovakia.
‘We had a conversation at the back end of last year and again a couple of weeks ago about Matt’s role this season and the potential for playing time. We basically ended up shaking hands and saying Matt is free to find other opportunities if available to him.
‘There's a real desire in Matt to still play and to still feature every single week in the Championship - and he was absolutely terrific for us last year in terms of everything we did to get us into the position we are in now.
‘But Matt’s expectation versus mine or versus ours as a club didn’t necessarily match up. We wanted to make sure we ended on a high and with that relationship intact, so Matt can go and explore pastures new.
‘There was no disagreement, we ended up speaking very amicably about it and that’s the best way. What we wanted to avoid is having any disagreement further down the line when games started.’
Fratton Park exit for Reading
Following a successful second Pompey spell consisting of 41 appearances and five goals, Ritchie signed a two-year deal with Reading in August.
However, those regular first-team starts didn’t happen. He made just seven League One starting line-ups for the Royals last season, although totalled 29 appearances and one goal overall.
Although now operating in different divisions in 2025-26, Ritchie continued to be regularly talked about at Fratton Park as supporters rued his absence during another season of struggle.
Still, Mousinho’s men managed to secure their safety in his absence, once again with two games to spare, despite having struggled to replace him on the right flank all season.
Those auditioning included Callum Lang, Terry Devlin, Florian Bianchini, Mark Kosznovszky, Minhyeok Yang, Conor Chaplin, Harvey Blair and Gustavo Caballero, with Adrian Segecic flourishing there in the final month.
Now, at the age of 36, Ritchie has signalled the end of his playing days to replace former Bournemouth team-mate Simon Francis as the Premier League club’s technical director.
Hopefully it’s the happy ending he deserves.
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