Back home: Ex-Portsmouth and Derby winger makes emotional return to first club - 13 years later

A former Pompey winger has made an emotional return to the club which launched his career - after a 13-year absence.

Michael Jacobs has signed for Northampton on a 12-month deal following his Chesterfield departure at the season’s end.

It marks a long-awaited Sixfields reunion for the 33-year-old local lad, who graduated from the Academy of his home-town club to reach 100 appearances and 15 goals.

After leaving for Derby in June 2012, Jacobs also went on to feature for Wolves, Blackpool, Wigan, Pompey and Chesterfield, totalling four promotions.

Indeed, he spent three seasons at Fratton Park, where he was a quality performer on the left flank, despite injury often impacting his availability, before departing under John Mousinho in the summer of 2023.

And now he’s back with the club where it all began.

Ex-Portsmouth man: I am still very ambitious

Jacobs told Northampton’s official website: ‘It has always been in my mind to come back at some stage. When I left I didn't want to leave but it was a great opportunity to go to the Championship and I couldn't turn it down.

‘This was always the first score I checked every week when I have been elsewhere and hopefully now I am back I can use my experience to help the team.

‘There are so many faces I know still here. It is such a great place to be that a lot of people stay a long time and it is great to see a lot of familiar faces and that's a tribute to the club, it is a good place to be with good people involved and I had no hesitation about coming back.

‘I am still very ambitious and want to be successful and I want to help the squad however I can. I have played at a high level for a long time, I have learned a lot and developed a lot and you learn things as you go along.

‘Hopefully I can help the other players with that, maybe late on in games, using my knowledge and experience at the right time.

‘I have spoken to the staff and we know the role I am here to do. It is a different role to 15 years ago but the club knows what I can do and I know what the club needs from me and we are on the same sheet.

‘This is clearly a club on the up and moving forward but it is moving forward at the right pace. The training ground is great, the stadium has improved since I played here before and of course the new stand is fantastic. That, while being competitive at this level, is all a sign of progress for the club and that's what we are keen to continue.’

Featured in Portsmouth Wembley defeat

Jacobs arrived at Fratton Park on a free transfer from Wigan in September 2020 under Kenny Jackett, hastening the departure of fellow winger Gareth Evans, who subsequently joined Bradford.

What unfolded was the unluckiest season of his football career, with two knee ligament injuries, a knee operation, contracting Covid, a Wembley cup final defeat, and the failure to reach the League One play-offs.

Jacobs made just 22 appearances in his maiden Fratton Park season, including appearing as a substitute in extra-time during their EFL Trophy final defeat at Salford on penalties in a behind-closed-doors Wembley fixture in March 2021.

Injuries became a familiar frustration, with Jacobs unable to make more than 17 league starts in any of his three Fratton Park campaigns.

A pay-for-play Portsmouth contract

The Blues opted to tie him to a pay-per-play contract for 2022-23, which proved to be his final year, as they sought to retain the attacker’s undoubted talents.

However, in the summer of 2023, following 93 games and 14 goals, Jacobs was released along with Clark Robertson, Ryan Tunnicliffe, Kieron Freeman, Louis Thompson, Jayden Reid, Alfie Bridgman and Dan Gifford.

After reuniting with his former Wigan boss Paul Cook at Chesterfield, he left this summer following two seasons and one promotion - paving the way for a return home to Northampton at the age of 33.

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