Hart not to blame for Pompey demise

I have to admit I wasn’t surprise when I heard that Portsmouth boss Paul Hart had been sacked. It had been coming for along time after a poor start to the season.

Out of his depth

Hart was clearly out of his depth as a Premier League manager. He is a good coach and is a decent Championship boss.

Everybody within football seems to have only good things to say about him. He also seems like an intelligent and honest guy.

Portsmouth chief executive Peter Storrie even mentioned how Hart is a man of great dignity. Hart has now been offered a role as Technical Director working with youngsters but is expected to decline the position.

Hart is no stranger to youth teams and younger players having worked as a youth team coach in the past. I hope he decides to keep his dignity and leaves Pompey for a Championship job. He could do a good job for a side in the second tier of English football. I was always a bit sceptical about his appointment as Portsmouth boss.

Awful Circumstances

To be fair to Hart he has had to handle a ridiculous situation at Fratton Park. In the last two years the club have sold off all their top talent. Last summer was like a  fire-sale at Fratton Park. The likes of Peter Crouch, Niko Kranjcar and Sylvain Distin left the club to help the club with their crippling debt.

Overspending chairman

The debt was amassed under former chairman Alexandre Gaydamak. The French-born businessman was hailed as a saviour when he allowed manager Harry Redknapp to spend on big transfer fees and big wages. Gaydamak must of known that the club couldn’t afford the amount they were spending. The chairman was over ambitious and wanted the club to push on from midtable but got them into huge financial trouble.

As chairman of the club he must of known the consequences of the spending. The extent of debts only became fully apparent this summer when most of Portsmouth’s top players left the club. What was left was quite frankly very poor. Most of the players that were still at the club were not good enough for the Premier League.

When the new owners arrived Hart only had a limited time to buy players before the transfer window shut. In a previous article I have criticised his signings and I’m afraid I have been proved right in my assessment of the players who arrived in late August.

I commented that Kevin Prince-Boateng, Tommy Smith and Frederic Piquionne were not good enough for the Premier League. I also commented that Aruna Dindane could a prove a success. That could happen if he gets a GPS and a goalscoring coach for Christmas to show him where the goal is located! I actually like Dindane. He reminds of the Everton striker Yakubu, a former Pompey player of course.

Who can save Pompey?

Pompey will have to act quickly to appoint Hart’s successor if they are going to pull off a miracle. Its very unlikely that the South Coast club will survive relegation from the Premier League with the current squad. The players are simply not good enough. Its quite apt that they are facing relegation to the Championship as most of their squad are Championship standard.

The current favourite for the vacant position is Portsmouth Director of Football Avram Grant. He has bags of experience and knowledge. However I’m not sure if he would be a popular choice amongst the Portsmouth fans. The other favourites on the list are apparently former Peterborough boss Darren Ferguson and ex-Charlton boss Alan Curblishley.

Ferguson is rated as one of the top young up and coming British bosses. His sacking from the Posh was a surprise and most of their fans couldn’t believe the club had sacked the boss who had helped the club to two successive promotions. However Peterborough were bottom of the Championship when he left. I think Fergie Jnr’s lack of experience may restrict his chances here.

Alan Curbishley would be a good safe pair of hands but hes been out of the game awhile after resigning as West Ham boss in 2008. He quit his job because of a dispute over his board of directors selling players behind his back. He also took over West Ham when they looked certain for relegation and saved them. That experience would come in very handy at Fratton Park.

Whoever is chosen will have a major challenge to keep Portsmouth afloat this season. I just hope for the sake of their superb supporters they don’t end like their rivals Southampton. Their rivals are struggling in League One after a disastrous slide down the leagues and are near financial ruin. Lets just hope that history doesn’t repeat itself with Portsmouth.