Portsmouth began their 2008–09 season with a defeat to Manchester United in the 2008 FA Community Shield on 10 August 2008 at Wembley, losing 3–1 on penalties to the reigning Premier League champions after the match had ended 0–0. The Premier League season got off to a similarly poor start as they were convincingly beaten 4–0 in their first league match, away to Chelsea, while a hard-fought 1–0 defeat to Manchester United at Fratton Park in their second saw them drop to the foot of the table in the last week of August. The South Coast club, however, made amends for this poor start with a 3–0 away win against Everton which lifted them out of the drop zone at the start of September. On 21 September, Portsmouth suffered their heaviest defeat to date in the Premier League when they lost 6–0 away at Manchester City, but they remained 13th in the table. They eventually finished in 14th place, thanks to academy director Paul Hart stepping in as caretaker boss, seven points clear of the relegated clubs, despite the disruption brought by the departure of Harry Redknapp and the subsequent sacking of his successor, former assistant manager Tony Adams.