Paul Hart took over as manager of Rushden & Diamonds, following the departure of Barry Hunter. After an average start to the season, Diamonds embarked on an eight match winless run, leading to Hart leaving the club in October by mutual consent. Hart joined Premier League club Portsmouth as Director of Youth Operations in 2007. He was asked to take over as caretaker manager, initially for one game only following the sacking of Tony Adams on 9 February 2009. Shortly afterwards, Hart brought Brian Kidd in as his assistant. He won his first game in charge 2–0 at home to Manchester City
Portsmouth F.C. basis with a one-year contract. Portsmouth sold over 10,000 season tickets for the 2013–14 season, a record for any League Two club. In November 2013, Whittingham was sacked and a month later ex-Crawley Town manager Richie Barker was appointed Portsmouth boss, along with Steve Coppell as the director of football. Barker was sacked after 20 games in charge, with the club in serious danger of relegation to the Football Conference, and Andy Awford was again made caretaker manager. He won five games out of five played, guaranteeing Pompey's survival in League Two. On 1 May 2014, Awford was appointed Pompey's