'Job too much for him... Argued with everyone... So weak...' Milan Mandaric: My eight Portsmouth managers - and why I sacked them

Ultimately, it was the man he appointed twice – Harry Redknapp – who proved to be the most successful, impressively transforming Pompey’s fortunes in each spell.

Nonetheless, Mandaric’s other managers averaged little more than seven months in the job until his September 2006 departure.

After buying Pompey for £4.5m in May 1999 and taking them out of administration, the Serb businessman inherited Alan Ball as Blues boss.

He later appointed Tony Pulis, Steve Claridge, Graham Rix, Velimir Zajec, Alain Perrin and, of course, Redknapp (twice).

Here’s Mandaric, in his own words, on each of his Pompey managers….

Alan Ball (Under Mandaric; June 23, 1999-December 9, 1999)

Reign: 5 months, 17 days (170 days)

‘It didn’t work out. A nice man, a good footballer, but he wasn’t prepared to do what Harry Redknapp went and achieved. No way.

‘He wasn’t there enough and wasn’t able to put himself into that direction to take the players where we needed to go.’

Tony Pulis (January 13, 2000-October 12, 2000)

Reign: 9 months (274 days)

‘He was too aggressive as a person, while just wasn’t good enough, football-wise and quality-wise, to build the game and get the best out of the players.

‘He played a defensive style with long balls and I didn’t like that. He also argued with everyone, so I had to release him.’

Steve Claridge (October 12, 2000-February 25, 2001)

Reign: 4 months, 14 days (137 days)

‘Such an interesting guy and somebody who I had to find out how good he was as a manager before anything else.

‘He wanted it so badly, and he tried, but just didn’t have that experience. It was too much for him.’

Graham Rix (February 25, 2001-March 25, 2002)

Reign: 1 year, 1 month, 1 day (394 days)

‘He didn’t do well. A nice guy, but a bit flamboyant and his mind was always somewhere else.

‘He wasn’t anywhere near to being a manager, and was actually more of a coach who would have been better working under somebody like Harry.

‘In the end I did what needed to be done and just had to release him.’

Velimir Zajec (November 24, 2004-April 7, 2005)

Reign: 4 months, 15 days (135 days)

‘He was a big footballer for Yugoslavia, but there was no blood in him, he was so weak.

‘When we started to lose games, I told him to slam the table in front of the players and tell them what they were doing wrong.

‘He would close his door sometimes for days, he wasn’t ready for the job, it was too much for him.’

Alain Perrin (April 7, 2005-November 24, 2005)

Reign: 7 months, 18 days (232 days)

‘A good coach, I don’t doubt that at all, but he was very full of himself, there was an arrogance, and I didn’t like his (playing) style.

‘As a person, he wasn’t a good man, and the players didn’t like him. They came to me and told me that too.’

And….

Harry Redknapp (March 30, 2002-November 24, 2004 and December 7, 2005-Outlasted Mandaric)

‘He’s a good man, the best. I had lots of clubs and he was the best football guy that I ever had. I owe Harry a lot, he brought success at Pompey, that meant so much to me.

‘I enjoyed every minute with Harry, he’s a wonderful guy. I like his bubbly personality, he’s very knowledgeable about football, we didn’t get promoted by accident, he knew exactly what players we needed and how to deal with them.

‘I was a lucky man to have him as a friend and as a manager in my life. He has this tremendous energy and innovation about football, really fun to talk to.’