There are few people who see a football club more clearly than the kitman. Managers come and go, players move on after a season or two, but the man responsible for the boots, the bibs and the pre-match skips tends to stick around. At Portsmouth, that man was "Big" Kev McCormack, whose 27 years of service at Fratton Park made him one of the longest-serving members of backroom staff in the club's modern history.

McCormack has now sat down with Chris Wise and Andy Moon on BBC Radio Solent's Who Needs Mourinho? podcast to look back on nearly three decades behind the scenes at Pompey. The result, according to the show's billing, is a trove of stories from a career that spanned an extraordinary range of eras for the club: from lower-league anonymity through to the Premier League years and, inevitably, the turbulence that followed.

A unique vantage point

Kitmen occupy a peculiar spot in football's social geography. They are close enough to the dressing room to know everything, yet removed enough from the coaching hierarchy that players speak freely around them. Over 27 years, McCormack would have been present for some of the most vivid moments in Portsmouth's recent history, good and bad alike.

The podcast touches on two questions that supporters will find particularly compelling: what was his favourite game, and what were the various managers he worked under actually like behind closed doors? Those are the kinds of questions that official club channels rarely get the chance to ask, which is precisely what makes the format valuable.

We do not have a full transcript of the interview, so it would not be fair to paraphrase specific claims McCormack made about individual managers. What we can say is that a kitman who served from the lower reaches of the Football League through to top-flight football and back again has a perspective that few outside the building ever acquire.

Why this matters for the Championship club

Portsmouth are a Championship club right now, back in the second tier after years spent rebuilding from administration. For supporters who followed the club through its darkest periods, a conversation with someone who was present throughout carries genuine emotional weight. It is a reminder of both how far the club fell and the continuity of people who stayed loyal to it.

There is a broader point here too. Fan culture around a club is not constructed solely by what happens on the pitch. It is built equally by the characters who inhabit the training ground, the boot room, the away coach. McCormack, by the sound of it, was exactly that kind of figure: present, consistent, and apparently entertaining company.

Whether you are a Pompey supporter who remembers McCormack from matchdays at Fratton Park or simply someone curious about what 27 years inside a football club looks and feels like, this episode makes a reasonable case for your time.

How to listen

The episode is available now on BBC Sounds. Search for Who Needs Mourinho? on the BBC Sounds app or website to find the Big Kev special. Subscribing via the app will deliver future episodes directly to your feed, which is the easiest way to keep up with Pompey content from BBC Radio Solent throughout the Championship season.

For a club that has been through as much as Portsmouth have in the past two decades, stories like McCormack's are as much a part of the club's identity as any result or transfer. It is worth an hour of your time.

Frequently asked

Who is Big Kev McCormack at Portsmouth?
Kev McCormack, known as "Big" Kev, served as Portsmouth's kitman for 27 years at Fratton Park, making him one of the longest-serving backroom staff members in the club's modern history.
Where can I listen to the Portsmouth Who Needs Mourinho podcast?
The BBC Radio Solent podcast Who Needs Mourinho? is available on BBC Sounds. Search for it on the BBC Sounds app or website and subscribe to receive new episodes automatically.
What did Big Kev McCormack talk about on the Pompey podcast?
McCormack discussed his 27 years at Fratton Park, including his favourite game, what the various managers he worked under were like, and stories from his time behind the scenes at Portsmouth.