And the Gosport boy outlined his belief over the importance of picking up the leadership from fellow academy graduate Marlon Pack, after being chosen to lead Pompey in his absence from the starting XI.
Ritchie has been handed the armband across the past five Championship fixtures with Pack on the bench for those outings, as the 35-year-old was chosen by John Mousinho to skipper his team.
Taking on the honour has coincided with Pompey’s best run of results this season with a draw against Burnley, unfortunate loss at Sheffield United and three successive wins ensuing.
Captaining the side which means so much to Ritchie is something which clearly is of massive importance to the favourite, as he moves towards the latter chapters of his playing career.
Ritchie said: ‘I’m really, really proud, I have to be honest.
‘I’m really thankful to the manager for passing on the responsibility while Mars (Marlon Pack) hasn’t been in the team.
‘Marlon, since I’ve joined the club, you can see the pride he wears it with and he really sets the example for the work ethic of the football club. I can take that on in the moment and it’s a really, really proud moment for me as well – as I’m sure it is for Mars.
‘I think it’s a real, nice sentimental moment for me.
‘Other people will see the captaincy doesn’t mean anything and there’s 11 captains and leaders in our own way – but to have that little bit of pride is a nice moment.’
As well as the captaincy, Ritchie could celebrate his fourth goal of the season as he helped down QPR and extend the gap to relegation places to nine points. All of those finishes have come at the Milton End, however, something the winger enjoyed a joke about with Blues legend Guy Whittingham after the weekend success.
Yet, after completing his homecoming from Newcastle last summer, Ritchie is finding poignant moments all the time as he makes the Pompey memories he was determined to have after leaving PO4 in 2011 with just a handful of appearances to his name.
‘It’s funny, though, because my memories of this ground are of the South Stand family section.
‘We used to finish our youth team games and go up there.
‘I remember Thierry Henry walking around and waving up to that top section. I remember Hermann Hreidarsson bombing up and down that left flank and the game against AC Milan. I watched all those moments from the South Stand upper.
‘We used to play in the morning and then rush back to watch the game from there, so that’s where my memories are. Even after Murph (Josh Murphy) scored I wheeled away to that side, because that’s a nice area of the pitch for me.’
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