The only way may be up for Paul Hart but surely it’s only downwards from here on in for his former employers.

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Football - Stoke City v Portsmouth Barclays Premier League

With his hang dog expression styled to perfection, to his no nonsense post match interview style there is a great deal to admire and love about former Portsmouth boss Paul Hart. Any other manager would have gleefully left Fratton Park an eon ago but he decided to steadfastly hold on to the bitter end and it displays just how much affection the bluff Lancashire Lad has on the south coast that even after losing just about every game he was put in charge of, he still had far more affinity with the fans than most Premier League bosses have (yes Gary Megson we are in fact referring to you).

Given the fact that since just prior to his arrival in February the club had lost two of its brightest stars in Jermain “I can’t stop scoring” Defoe and Lassana “Why did Arsenal and Chelsea not love me” Diarra, one would have thought that joining the cash strapped club could only end in tears. Mr. Hart got the most out of his team nonetheless and in the final 14 games of last term he led them to 17 valuable points and he steered them clear of the dreaded drop.

Then the summer came along and more financial hardships led to a mass exodus the likes of which haven’t been seen since biblical times and every player of decent quality and above was offloaded and as the likes of Peter Crouch, Glen Johnson, Sol Campbell, Sylvain Distin, Niko Kranjcar and Sean Davis all left Paul had to make do with a very motley crew of rejects, has beens and never will be’s. Therefore it was perhaps unsurprising that the south coast club found themselves propping up the table and now that the club has mutually agreed to SACK the boss who I think we can all agree would be a nice guy to go to the pub with, no doubt the club is hoping for the obligatory upward spike of form that follows the introduction of a new man at the helm, they may well be in for a shock.

Whereas Hart managed to get the most out of a squad that is frankly woeful a new boss, probably Avram Grant, may find it harder to gee up a playing staff who probably all to a man greatly respected their previous boss. It will be something of a miracle if Pompey keep their head above the perforated relegation line and whilst everyone loves an underdog they are more likely to love an underdog fronted by the biggest underdog boss in the Premier League and that was Paul Hart.


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