When Tony Pulis’s football “I don`t think ‘H’ is given credit “If you want to stay up, the “We get twenty thousand every
career appeared to be for his ability as a coach. When he bottom line is winning. If you do week even though Stoke City lost
going nowhere, his father went off to manage West Ham he not win you do not stay in the two generations of supporters.
wanted him to become recommended me for the job at job. You have got to win football They have been out of the top
a docker. Thankfully he bournemouth . matches. You have to perform in flight for 23 or 24 years.
stuck to football and the a way which gives you the chance
Welshman is enjoying life “I worked under several good and the opportunity of winning,” “What we have to do is build
at the top, within a sniff of managers they all gave me a good he said. that supporter base up again. It
the roses. knowledge of the game, not just is a bit like south wales . the
the basics but the way players “Last year we were promoted, we potteries have closed down and a
Now every week he stands side should look after themselves”. had the 14 th highest wage budget, lot of people worked in them, but
by side with Sir Alex Ferguson, we averaged 14 th in the league there are a lot of nice people up
Arsene Wenger, Felipe Scolari, Pulis left Bournemouth in 1995 for for attendances, yet we managed here and they are very passionate
Rafa Benitez and Co, as manager Gillingham , who were struggling to come second. We came second about their football”
of Stoke City having guided the at the bottom of the Football because we were well organised,
club back into the top flight of League. Eventually he turned them had a fantastic team spirit, a great someone else who is well
English football for first time since into a promotion wining side, and togetherness as a group and that aware of the Potteries football
the 1984-85 season. took them to the highest position overcomes a lot.” tradition is another Stoke City
in their history in the then first legend Dennis Smith. The former
Pulis hails from Pillgwenlly, the division. The odds are stacked against any Wrexham boss played more than
docklands area of Newport, side promoted to the Premiership 400 times for Stoke and also
and joins an elite group, Mark He went to Stoke via Bristol City these days. A figure of 45 million managed Sunderland in the top
Hughes, Chris Coleman and Mike and Portsmouth , but his first pounds is estimated as necessary division.
Walker, who are the only other spell there ended in getting the just to survive.
Welshmen to have managed in sack from the Icelandic chairman “Tony keeps himself to himself - in
The Premiership. because Pulis did not utilise the there is no way tony Pulis has a the game everyone likes him and
foreign transfer market. budget of those proportions.The he is very good at doing his job,”
He started on the road to club’s owner Peter Coates sold said Smith.
management at the early age of 19 “The Icelandic board of directors his Bet 365 business for less than
when he suffered a broken ankle were very, very nice people, that figure and is quoted as being “the manager will know all the
and, rather than sit around waiting but they felt there were more the 25 th richest person in British tactics. What he has to do is work
for his fitness to return, he took bargains to be found abroad than football. Pulis knows how much he out how to stop people and then
the FA coaching badge. Two in England ,” he explained. has to spend and shelled out just inform his players. Tony will give
years later he gained the UEFA £11million in the summer. them the right information, he is a
‘A’ licence, one of the youngest “I have a very good record of very good coach.
coaches to gain this status. buying and selling, my record is “My budget will be in the bottom
as good as anyone`s in the lower two or three of the Premier Pulis knows that may not be
He carried on learning as a player leagues. League and that will affect enough with the financial cards so
with four different clubs, Bristol results,” he admitted. stacked against them in the best
Rovers and Bournemouth in “I have made huge profits for funded league in the world. “Yes,
two spells, his home town club football clubs, but I did not know So he must be casting an envious we have to accept that,” he said.
Newport County and Gillingham . the foreign market that well - I eye towards fellow Welshman
his manager at bournemouth was still do not know the foreign Mark Hughes who moved last “The important thing is to give it
the FA Cup winning manager last market that well - and when summer from managing Blackburn your best shot. No-one expected
season, Harry Redknapp, when you are spending other people’s Rovers to Manchester City , Stoke to get promoted last year.
the management process began in money you have got to be as sure breaking the British transfer There were a dozen clubs miles
earnest. as you possibly can, not just as record to bring Robinho to The in front of us in the championship
players but as characters as well.” City Of Manchester Stadium. in terms of budgets and average
“He got me involved in doing bits crowds, but we managed to pull
and pieces around the ground, and Another struggling side, Plymouth “I have to say that the lad (Mark it off.
then he offered me a job on the , looked for salvation in Pulis Hughes) has done a fantastic job
coaching side, later I became the and found it, going from bottom at Blackburn on a tight budget “Now what we have to do is push
first team coach,” said Pulis. to their highest Championship and deserves the opportunity to it on and see of we can stay in the
position of 14 th in 28 games, but coach at a club where he does Premiership.”
“He has a tremendous knowledge fans have not always loved the have a bit more money and a bit
of the game and I learned a hell style played by the Pulis teams. more scope,” is how Pulis puts it. And Tony Pulis has a record to
of a lot off him. He is a football defend - his teams have never
nut, a character and a good coach There were murmurings of “We cannot compete with been relegated. If he can maintain
having been brought up at West discontent when, after a change of Blackburn in respect of the budget that this season then he will be as
Ham under the likes of Ron ownership, Pulis was approached they have got and the money they strong a candidate for Manager of
Greenwood and John Lyle. to return to Stoke City for a pay their players, but I think this the Year as any of the big names a
second spell. club can be bigger than blackburn few yards away in the opposition
in respect of the supporter base. dugout.
sportingwales
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