page_title: History of Portsmouth F.C.
section_title: 2008–09 season: Financial crisis begins
hierarchical_section_title: History of Portsmouth F.C. / Portsmouth City Football Club Limited (1999–2010) / 2008–09 season: Financial crisis begins
caption_attribution_description: kaboul, Kanu, Little, Crouch, Johnson
context_page_description: Portsmouth Football Club is a professional association football club based in Portsmouth, England which was first founded in 1898. Football was first played in Portsmouth from at least the middle on the nineteenth century, having been brought to the Victorian era military town of Portsmouth by soldiers, sailors and dockers who had originated from other towns and cities in England, particularly from the north of England where the game and rules of association football were already well established. A series of part-time amateur teams and clubs were formed in Portsmouth during the latter half on the nineteenth century as football became more popular and widespread, but none were as successful as the professional Portsmouth F.C., which continues to the present day.
context_section_description: 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.
  At the start of the 2008–09 season rumours began to fly around that Portsmouth were facing crippling debts due to their recent heavy spending and owner Alexandre Gaydamak was looking to sell the club. After Redknapp's departure many key players began to depart with Lassana Diarra and Jermain Defoe leaving in January. In May 2009, Sulaiman Al-Fahim had a takeover big accepted for the club. However, the takeover dragged on over the whole summer, and with no money being put into the club, the majority of the squad had to be sold, with the likes of Peter Crouch, Glen Johnson and Sylvain Distin sold for big money fees. With no incoming players, meanwhile, Portsmouth quickly became favourites for relegation. Al-Fahim finally took the club over in August and a few players, such as Tommy Smith, Aruna Dindane and Jamie O'Hara, were brought it. However, there was constant speculation that Al-Fahim did not have enough money to run the club and manage the £70 million debt.
caption: Portsmouth playing Milan in the UEFA Cup, with players including Nwankwo Kanu, Peter Crouch and Younès Kaboul
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