Paul Hart has hailed Brian Kidd as the pair prepare Portsmouth for the trip to Man Utd on Wednesday.
Pompey boss praises his assistant on eve of return to Old Trafford
Paul Hart has praised his assistant and Manchester United legend Brian Kidd as the pair prepare Portsmouth to take on the Red Devils at Old Trafford on Wednesday.
Kidd has deep ties with United given he spent more than 10 years as a player there and then a decade managing the youth team and as assistant to Sir Alex Ferguson.
Wednesday's Premier League game will be his first return to the ground since he joined Hart at Pompey following Tony Adams' dismissal from Fratton Park earlier this year.
Since then, Hart has taken 13 points from his first eight games in charge, steering Pompey to 37 points and within grasp of safety.
He believes Kidd - who turns 60 next month and beat prostate cancer to return to football in February 2006 - has played his full part in this success.
"He's been terrific. He's done everything I hoped he would here," said Hart.
"His experience and knowledge on the training field have done us all a lot of good and I think he's been a terrific signing, my only one at Portsmouth.
Great friend
"I have known him for years and he's a great friend. We first met way back when he was playing for Arsenal and Everton and he used to knock me about on the field but we've never been at the same club at the same time."
Hart added: "I think it is wonderful now that he's here. I believe his record going back to Old Trafford is pretty good although he doesn't say a lot about it.
"He keeps himself to himself largely but he's a legend there and it's great he's got the chance to go back there.
"Yet Brian would be the first to say this match is not about him and not even about me. It is about this club and the fact that we still need points to stay up.
"Anybody who thinks the 37 points we've got makes us safe already is a fool. So we are not going there to have a jolly up and a night out.
"We are keeping hard down on the pedal and I think, even though United are the best team in the world, we can give them problems if we prepare right.
"I can't see any reason why, with the players believing in themselves so much again, we can't get something there.
Fired up
"United are out of the FA Cup but still fighting on two fronts and they will have their big guns back, I'm sure. They will be fired up and need the points, but then so do we.
"I've heard managers from many other clubs saying they don't expect to get anything when they go to Old Trafford but that's certainly not the way we are approaching it. There's no way we are just going to lie down and roll over for them."
As well as the current decent run of form, Portsmouth won at Old Trafford in the FA Cup quarter-finals last year before going on to lift the trophy.
But Hart believes previous form counts for nothing.
"None of that really matters," he said.
"If you keep harking back to previous games you get nowhere, except into an early grave. The main thing is always the next match."
