Exclusive:Why Portsmouth believe former Bristol City, Lincoln City and Luton Town man is right for key role

It wasn’t exactly an acrimonious exit, but perhaps not a clean parting of ways either.

Joe Morrell’s three-year Pompey career came to an abrupt end in the summer of 2024, a consequence of a serious knee injury arriving as his Fratton contract drew to a close following promotion to the Championship.

A grounded and cerebral football thinker with voracious work ethic and appetite to improve

It was a pragmatic decision with no room for sentiment, for a player who felt he still had something to offer at PO4.

‘There’s no loyalty in football,’ was a typically straightforward assessment from one of the more cerebral and grounded football thinkers to wear royal blue in recent years.

Ultimately, it was a call Pompey would’ve felt justified in making, as a rehabilitation setback from the knee injury suffered at Oxford United in January 2024 ensued.

A year later, the vice-captain of the League One title-winning season was making the decision to call time on his playing career. At 28.

It was a development which would’ve been drenched in emotion, but one the Wales international forthrightly stated he was ‘at peace’ with.

While the rest of us were digesting the door closing on his playing days prematurely, Morrell could already see another opening.

It was one John Mousinho was perceptive enough to sense was now ajar for the midfielder, with the Pompey boss revealing earlier this year there had been a tentative conversation over a role on his staff.

Morrell instead took his first steps back where it all began for him at Bristol City, last season stepping up to take interim charge of the under-21 set-up.

But now he’s back.

Fifteen days shy of year on from his retirement, news has emerged it’s the man who made 105 Pompey appearances who will succeed Zesh Rehman in the coaching role he departed from last December.

‘I will be very, very surprised if he doesn’t have a successful coaching career,’ said Mousinho of his former charge.

Now Morrell has the chance to make good on that prediction at PO4.

Forget the noise of a Pompey old pals’ act being the basis for the appointment, there would’ve been a rigorous process for the best candidate to fill the role.

And, from this observer’s view, there’s absolutely no surprise Morrell is viewed as that man.

Pompey are getting a relatable character who is now ahead of the curve, as he attacks his coaching pathway with the same diligence which made him a footballer who undoubtedly overachieved in his playing career.

Morrell’s self-awareness meant he saw his limitations as a player.

Yet, this is someone who can reflect on his curtailed playing career, which traversed testing non-league loans with the likes of Margate to reaching the European Championships and World Cup amid 37 international caps.

He did so by finding a way to bridge the gap with more gifted peers, and that started with a voracious work ethic and appetite to improve.

Now those same attributes give Morrell every chance of replicating his success on his coaching voyage. And that is good news for Pompey.