Angelos Basinas €1.4 million per annum with AEK Athens, choosing the number 14. Despite the pre-season odds, AEK underachieved during the first half of the season and lost the title race too early, making Basinas favourable towards a new move during the winter transfer period. On 2 February 2009, Portsmouth confirmed the signing of Basinas on an eighteen-month contract. He made his debut for Portsmouth on 7 February 2009 against Liverpool. Just a few hours after his debut, manager Tony Adams, who brought Basinas in, was sacked by the club and replaced by Paul Hart. Under the new manager, Basinas hardly played
History of Portsmouth F.C. proposed appointing another director in November, with responsibility for the youth set-up at the club. Redknapp disapproved of the proposal, but Mandarić pressed ahead and appointed Velimir Zajec. Redknapp, along with his assistant Jim Smith, subsequently resigned with immediate effect on 23 November. Zajec took over as manager, initially as caretaker, then on 20 December 2004 the club announced that he would manage the team for the remainder of the season. Their first game under Zajec was a 1–0 away win over Bolton in a hard-fought match where Portsmouth captain Arjan de Zeeuw and Bolton striker El Hadji Diouf had