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Portsmouth manager Paul Hart - Source: Reuters
Paul Hart became the first Premier League managerial casualty of
the season on Wednesday when he was sacked by bottom club
Portsmouth.
"The board feels the team should have accrued more points to date
and that we need a new man in charge to ensure Premier League
survival," chief executive Peter Storrie told the club's
website
Hart was offered the role of technical director, developing players
from the ages of 18-21, but declined it.
The club said they would announce a replacement "very quickly and
until that time the players will be led by first-team coaches Paul
Groves and Ian Woan".
Last month former Portsmouth and Chelsea manager Avram Grant was
appointed director of football, shortly after Saudi Arabian
businessman Ali al Faraj's takeover of the club.
Hart steered the club away from the drop zone last season in a
caretaker role before signing a two-year contract as permanent
manager in July.
"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," added Storrie.
"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."
This season Portsmouth became the first English top-flight side in
79 years to lose their opening seven games of the campaign.
"Paul has worked under very difficult circumstances with the
financial restrictions the club has faced since he took over," said
Storrie.
Al Faraj bought 90 percent of the club's shares last month from
Sulaiman al Fahim who had taken over in August but struggled to
refinance Portsmouth's mounting debts.
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