Portsmouth chief executive Peter Storrie has said he will
stay with the club - and admitted it would be "daft and stupid" to
sack Paul Hart.
Pompey missed a host of chances in a 1-0 home defeat against
Everton yesterday - their seventh successive setback - and remain
anchored to the foot of the table.
Today's newspapers have suggested time is not on Paul Hart's
side, with former Celtic boss Gordon Strachan one of the names to
be linked to the club.
However, Storrie believes Hart can turn things around.
He said: "It's okay people saying 'go and change things' but
look at the performance yesterday - and the support.
"It was a very strong performance we think we can build on for
the future. You'd be daft and stupid to change it."
Meanwhile, Storrie remains optimistic the spending power of new
owner Sulaiman Al Fahim will soon make the squad stronger.
He continued on Radio Five Live's Sportsweek: "He's said there's
£50million coming, publicly at a meeting to supporters on Friday
night.
"Sulaiman showed the board documentation to say the money's
there. We hope it all comes to fruition in the next few days.
"We can only go by what he's told the fans and what we've
seen."
Storrie has ended speculation he will leave the club, adding:
"Making sure the club is sound and the finances come in has always
been the main issue for me,
so I'm very happy to stay and continue being at a club I've
enjoy being at for the last seven years."
He appreciated Pompey fans singing his name at yesterday's game,
adding: "It makes you feel quite humble, to be honest - they didn't
need to do it but I appreciate it very much.
"If they feel like that I want to be there to continue to help
and wouldn't walk out on the club.
"It's been a hard eight or nine months but I thought we played
extremely well yesterday and were unfortunate not to win.
"Then the crowd chant your name - it makes you think 'this
doesn't happen to many chief executives'."
Storrie admitted the Hampshire club's financial problems
prevented the club from being able to replace quality players such
as Peter Crouch, Sylvain Distin and Nico Kranjcar during the
transfer window.
He explained: "There's been a massive change and we've had to
bring players in at the last minute but the performance yesterday
was the best for some while.
"We're confident the players will turn it around - and they are
too."
Storrie refuted suggestions the new arrivals are not good enough
for the Premier League.
He explained: "All the players we've brought have either played
in the Premier League, come from the Premier League, or played in
top leagues in Europe.
And he remains convinced the club will maintain their top flight
status, despite making the worst start in Premier League
history.
He added: "We're still hanging in there and hopefully this
finance will mean the hard work over the last six or seven months
will come to fruition and we'll be strong.
"We're confident - if you see players' heads down you'd be
worried or not creating chances, but we should have had something
in five out of the seven games."