IF YOU believed the rumours, Harry Redknapp was going to resign, while clutching his manager of the month trinket, in front of the television cameras.

Then he would disappear into the night before turning up at Molineux, where he would spread more of his gold dust and help Wolves back into the Premiership.

That was one theory.

The other was that he would invest in AFC Bournemouth, the club where he began his managerial career, and continue to enjoy life at the family home in Poole.

But 57-year-old Redknapp was not reading either script after seeing his side suffer a third successive defeat against a rampant Manchester City.

Chairman Milan Mandaric's appointment of Velimir Zajec as 'executive director' is the reason for the cloud of uncertainty hanging over Fratton Park. Zajec watched from the stands as depleted Pompey were handed their second home reverse of the season.

But if the 48-year-old Croat has come to replace Redknapp, he may have to wait a little longer.

"There's no problem. I hope he (Zajec) does well. He's got a hard job on his hands setting up an academy. It'll be a lot of hard work," said Redknapp.

Three weeks earlier, the Pompey boss had been celebrating a second win of the calendar year against Manchester United, assuring him of the manager of the month award for October.

Now nothing but a long, hard winter beckons in the league after defeats at Aston Villa and Saints, plus Saturday's loss.

It promises to be no easier at Bolton on Saturday, with Redknapp facing something of a striker crisis without Diomansy Kamara, Yakubu and now Lomana Lua Lua, who limped off midway through the first half after failing to shrug off the groin injury that forced his withdrawal at St Mary's.

Eyal Berkovic was brought on for his first Premiership appearance in a month but Pompey's threat was blunted without the pace in attack that has been their strength under Redknapp.

"At half-time I told Jim (Smith) that it would be a miracle if we got a point," said the Pompey boss. "We're a counter-attacking side and, if we had a bit of pace out there, it would have been a different game."

If there was a plus for Pompey it was that they were level most of the game, thanks largely to two English youngsters.

The lack of Premiership quality in the club's youth teams is a cause for concern at Fratton Park and an area that Zajec has been asked to address. So it was refreshing to see 23-year-old goalkeeper Jamie Ashdown, on his Premiership debut, and Gary O'Neil, 21, do so well.

Ashdown conceded his first goal after six minutes, when an embarrassing slip by Dejan Stefanovic let in the outstanding Shaun Wright-Phillips to score.

But, within a minute, O'Neil responded by angling David Unsworth's left flank cross from the near post into the far corner, with a sidefooted volley.

It was as dextrous as it was timely but Ashdown was the real star. He kept City at bay by denying Paul Bosvelt with a diving save to his right and Robbie Fowler looked skywards after Ashdown dived to his left to produce a stop that beggared belief.

But Ashdown couldn't stop Antoine Sibierski after Fowler had skipped past Unsworth and crossed for the French midfielder, who volleyed the 78th-minute effort inside the far post.

And the free transfer signing from Reading in the summer, Ashdown had no chance with the follow up from Dutchman Bosvelt after he block Wright-Phillips's initial shot.