When you drop out of the Championship at the age of 31, the chances are that you will probably not return to that level of football.

But Marlon Pack is not your average player and certainly not your average character.

Leading Portsmouth to the League One title was not enough to guarantee a return for the midfielder to the second tier.

Pack’s original two-year contract expired this summer and as was seen with the likes of Joe Rafferty and Sean Raggett there is a ruthlessness to how Pompey operate.

But giving the 33-year-old a new deal feels like a no-brainer.

For all the importance of Pack’s qualities as a leader, he won the majority of the club’s player-of-the-year awards, he was one of the best players at Fratton Park last season.

His return two years ago was not always a sure thing. Derby County were very keen to sign him as a free agent in 2022, but before they were able to get their financial problems sorted Pompey were able to strike with a deal that famously included a number of season tickets for friends and family.

Pack of course used to have one of those himself.

He was raised in Buckland, on the west of Portsea Island, and was part of the Pompey youth team in a golden era when the club were a Premier League force with a number of England internationals in the ranks.

It is why lifting the League One trophy and helping Portsmouth back to the Championship after 12 years means so much to him.