Engineered his own dismissal? http://www.guardian.co.uk/football/2001/apr/26/newsstory.sport1 Pulis 'drank champagne' after sacking Jon Brodkin The Guardian, Thursday 26 April 2001 23.31 BST The former Gillingham manager Tony Pulis, who is suing the club for wrongful dismissal, drank champagne on the night he was sacked as manager, the high court in London heard yesterday. Pulis confirmed he drank champagne after learning of his dismissal on June 30, 1999 but denied he had tried to engineer his sacking and rejected claims that he told the Gillingham goalkeeper Vince Bartram that night: "You have no idea how hard I had to work to get him [Gillingham's chairman Paul Scally] to sack me." Nicholas Mostyn QC, representing Gillingham who are counter-claiming for damages against Pulis over alleged "gross misconduct", put it to Pulis that he had wanted to join another club and sought to get himself dismissed "so you would have the best possible chance of suing Gillingham in the high court". Gillingham insist Pulis' conduct breached the terms of his contract. Among other things they allege that the 43-year-old, who was also dismissed by Portsmouth in January after being given leave of absence to fight this case, handled stolen documents belonging to the club with a view to exploiting them for gain. Gillingham claimed that Pulis had broken his contract by holding "clandestine" talks with three clubs: Bristol City, whom he joined within days of leaving Gillingham, Stoke City and Norwich. Pulis, giving evidence yesterday, said he had spoken to Norwich with Scally's permission and maintained that talking to the clubs, whom he said approached him rather than the other way round, was not an "instantly sackable" offence. It was, he said, common for rival chairmen to approach successful managers. "I don't think the Football Association or Football League would like me saying this but it does happen," Pulis said. Pulis said that, although he held secret talks with Bristol City and Stoke, he did not want to leave Gillingham but felt "threatened, insecure and very upset" by what he alleged was Scally's failure to pay him money that he was owed. As part of his claim, Pulis complains that Gillingham did not pay him £195,000 in bonuses due to him following the sale of three players, Ade Akinbiyi, James Corbett and Iffy Onuora. He is also suing for loss of at least £168,000 in salary, plus bonuses and expenses-paid car and telephone benefits. The case continues. The Football League's disciplinary panel will reconvene on Tuesday in Leeds to re-assess allegations of financial irregularities at Chesterfield. The league's board refused to ratify the panel's recommendation to dock the Third Division club nine points, claiming the punishment was too lenient. The panel will again be chaired by Gordon McKeag. Frédéric Kanouté has hinted he wants to leave West Ham this summer. The striker rejected an approach from Chelsea in mid-season but said yesterday: "Each offer I receive will get all my attention because now I feel ready. My ambitions have changed." Marcel Desailly has said he is "95%" certain of staying at Chelsea next season, even though he described the club's training ground as "disgusting" and the demands of the Premiership as "terrible".
