'Forever remembered at Portsmouth': Joe Morrell on a special group - and a sad farewell

Joe Morrell believes a ‘special group’ have deservedly entered Pompey folklore.

And the Welshman is also revelling in his first promotion and the most enjoyable season of his playing career to date.

The League One campaign ends on Saturday, with the champions bringing the curtain down on a remarkable year at Lincoln.

The following day, the city will welcome them to Southsea Common, representing the final lap of honour for John Mousinho’s remarkable team.

Having arrived from Luton in August 2021, Morrell is one of the Blues’ longest-serving players and felt the promotion failures of the two previous seasons.

Now he’s finally savouring a Championship return with a talented playing squad which will be remembered forever.

Morrell told The News: ‘I’ve always been really proud to play for Pompey, I hope that has always come across.

‘It’s my first promotion, I’ve never really come close before. At the time I joined, I probably could have gone elsewhere to get promotion a little more easily than Pompey - but I knew it would be extra special here.

‘I know what it means to the supporters of this football club and that’s been magnified by the celebrations.

‘We all realised in that dressing room pretty early on that this was a special group and we had a chance this year. We’ve done it relatively comfortably in the end, which just shows how good a group we have.

‘This year has been by far the most enjoyable season I’ve been involved in. Even if we hadn’t won the league or got promoted, I still think it would have been the same with the lads and staff we’ve got in there.

‘This group is never going to play together again after Saturday. It’s never going to be exactly the same, but there will be lads here I will play against or bump into 10-20 years down the line.

‘I will look them in the eye and remember moments like Saturday and that’s pretty cool. It’s a special group and a group which will be remembered forever by everybody.’

A knee injury collected at Oxford at the end of January, ruled him out of the remainder of the season.

Nonetheless, he had been an impressive performer up until that heart-breaking moment, totalling 31 appearances.

He added: ‘Being injured doesn’t taint it for me, it just changes it a little.

‘I envisaged getting promotion on the pitch, on fans’ shoulders, scoring the winning goal or whatever. It’s different when you are in the stand.

‘But it doesn’t make it less special because in that dressing room we all know we’ve contributed. There are lads who haven't played so much, guys who have played every game, everybody has contributed an equal amount.

‘Testament to the lads who haven’t played so much this year, they’ve come in every day and drove the standards. That’s what people outside don’t see, but that sums up the group.’