Portsmouth part company with Paul Hart
Paul Hart has parted company with Premier League strugglers Portsmouth
Tuesday, 24, Nov 2009 08:01
By Michael Younger.
Premier League strugglers Portsmouth have announced that manager Paul Hart has left the club with immediate effect.
The 56-year-old was informed of the decision at a meeting with directors on Tuesday after a woeful start to the season, with Portsmouth at the bottom of the table, four points adrift of safety.
In a statement on the official Portsmouth website, the south coast club said that the decision "has been made reluctantly and is based on results that leave the club at the bottom of the Premier League".
Hart had been offered a new role as technical director responsible for players aged 18 to 21 but turned it down.
There will be great sympathy for the former Nottingham Forest manager, who has, to his credit, created a new team at Portsmouth after the summer fire-sale of players and has stabilised matters on the field after replacing Tony Adams in February.
Hart has had to deal with the uncertainty of the club's ownership, failure to pay staff and players on time and more recently a transfer embargo due to the failure of re-paying previous debts.
Only last week Hart admitted he was still waiting to meet Ali al-Faraj, Portsmouth's owner, who quickly acquired the club after the embarrassing, protracted saga of Sulaiman al-Fahim's takeover, but who has been a low-profile figure since his buyout.
Chief executive Peter Storrie said: "Paul has worked under very difficult circumstances with the financial restrictions the club has faced since he took over.
"However, the board feels that the team should have accrued more points to date and that we need a new man in charge to ensure Premier League survival.
"The board would like to thank Paul for his work not only in keeping the club in the Premier League last season but also for his time in charge of youth development.
"Paul is a man of great dignity and we hoped he would stay and help us develop younger players on the fringes of the first team. We are genuinely sad to see him leave. Everyone at the club wishes him well for the future."
Focus will now turn to who will replace Hart at Fratton park, with the club planning to announce a replacement very quickly. Until that time the players will be led by first team coaches Paul Groves and Ian Woan.
The early favourite to succeed Hart is former Chelsea manager Avram Grant who the club recently appointed as their new director of football.