The Pulis Out/In Debate:

Oh **** we're all suffering delusions of competence!!

 

So that's it then, he either saves us or takes us down now -

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/sport/fo...on-at-Stoke-to-save-club-from-relegation.html

Tony Pulis given rest of season at Stoke to save club from relegation
Tony Pulis will be given the rest of the season to save Stoke from relegation after being promised total support by chairman Peter Coates.

Stoke City have no plans to dismiss Pulis after an alarming slide down the Premier League table and are confident the Welshman can still secure the club a sixth successive season in the top flight.

Coates met with Pulis after Saturday's home defeat to Aston Villa and also spoke to him on Monday, while he intends to visit him at the training ground on Tuesday in a show of support for the beleaguered manager.

Stoke have been dragged into the relegation battle after earning only five points this year and a growing number of supporters are demanding that Pulis's second spell at the Britannia Stadium is brought to an end.

The style of football, which has yielded only 28 league goals this season, has also been a source of frustration for fans, particularly over the last 18 months, and Stoke now have six games to avoid dropping back into the Championship.

But while Stoke's board are disturbed by the recent run, Telegraph Sport understands Pulis's position is safe for the remainder of the campaign at least, before a substantial revamp of the squad in the summer.



While Pulis's future is not believed to be on the agenda at this stage, there will be drastic changes at the end of the season with Stoke's forward line expected to be the subject of major surgery.

Despite spending over £20 million on strikers Peter Crouch, Kenwyne Jones and Cameron Jerome the leading scorer is Jonathan Walters with nine goals and trading is anticipated over the summer to remedy what has become Stoke's Achilles heel.

Michael Owen, Jermaine Pennant, Dean Whitehead and Mamady Sidibe are to leave at the end of the season, while there could be other surprise moves for players under contract.

Asmir Begovic, the £15 million rated goalkeeper, will be targeted by a string of clubs including Manchester United, Manchester City, Arsenal and Chelsea. Liverpool have also emerged as the latest club to show interest in the highly-rated Bosnia international as manager Brendan Rodgers ponders the future of current No. 1 Pepe Reina.

United, who are still understood to be interested in Begovic, despite Sir Alex Ferguson's recent praise for David de Gea, face Stoke in the Potteries on Sunday, with Pulis attempting to secure only his second win since Boxing Day.

Stoke also face Norwich and Spurs at home before the end of the season with potentially pivotal trips to QPR, Sunderland and Southampton.

 

OH **** but we all knew eventually PULIS would get relegated. SAVE US? Save us from WHAT Mr Coates?

There's more chance Ma Lady having TWINS... we are well and truly screwed IMO.

As Nicky say's SOD IT!

Thanks for the Link Waddo

 

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RwqVG8Nr_oA

Seemed we had a chance of getting Pep Guardiola. At least he wouldn't have played Messi at LB!

 

So the person who got us into this mess in over 30 games gets to save us in the last 6, i won't hold my breath!!

 

It's official...

http://www.thesun.co.uk/sol/homepag...Ronaldo-and-Gareth-Bale-would-suit-Stoke.html

TONY PULIS has defended his under-fire football philosophy by claiming: “Ronaldo and Bale would suit my style brilliantly.”
Stoke boss Pulis is facing the biggest crisis of his seven-year reign.
Saturday’s 3-1 home defeat by Aston Villa plunged the Potters into a grim relegation dogfight.
And disgusted fans have turned on the gaffer saying it is not just the Welshman who is past his sell-by-date — his long-ball style of football is too.
But Pulis, 55, insists he is no one-trick pony on his way to the knackers’ yard and claims the changes he wants to make cannot be pushed through overnight.
He said: “A lot people have an opinion about my style and, yes, I do like to move the ball quickly.
“My preference is to play with width and have people down the sides with pace.
“I want us to get the ball out to players who can excite the crowd.
“I want to encourage wingers to run down the pitch and get crosses in and I like to see centre-forwards in the box putting those chances away.
“But it’s about who you can afford to bring in.
“If I had an open chequebook and someone said you can have Cristiano Ronaldo AND Gareth Bale, people of that ilk, fine — they would suit my style brilliantly. But we’re Stoke City and we work within a budget we can afford.
“You don’t just wake up one morning and say ‘We’re changing our entire style of playing today.
“It takes time for a club to evolve — three, four, maybe even five years in some cases.
“You can’t just sign two players and say we’re a different side now.
“It’s like turning the QE2 — it has to be done gradually.
“Michael Laudrup has been praised for what he’s achieved in his debut season at Swansea — and rightly so.
“But Swansea started developing their style seven or eight years ago and four managers down the line.
“I’m not against change and we’ve already started the process.
“But there weren’t many people complaining about the way we played when we went on a 10-match unbeaten run in November and December.”
Stoke have won just one of their last 13 Premier League games, with leaders Manchester United next up at the Britannia on Sunday.
Pulis knows his Potters have not been pulling their weight recently but believes there are reasons behind their recent slump.
He added: “There are going to be years when you’re not having the best of times for whatever reasons.
“You might have injuries, you might have players who lose form.
“Within the group there may be things going on in players’ lives.
“Players lose confidence, don’t play as many games as they want, they’re down in the dumps and lose confidence.
“There are always certain things which affect players’ performances.
“It’s a difficult balancing act which we’ve done pretty well for seven years.
“There are times when you think you have it cracked, then it drifts and ebbs away.
“Clubs have different levels they aspire to which are determined by the amount of money you have and the size of your football club.
“You can progress some clubs so far, then you hit a ceiling.
“Once you hit that ceiling it’s difficult to start over again and hit that ceiling again and again and again.
“You have to be at your best every time, in every single game, every single year to hit that ceiling and this season we have not always made that mark.”
Against Villa on Saturday, Stoke only clicked into gear when Pulis sent on substitutes Michael Kightly and Charlie Adam.
Kightly scored Stoke’s equaliser from a chance created by Adam and Pulis was criticised for not having those high-profile summer signings on from the start.
He admitted both players have experienced troubled debut seasons for varying reasons and, at times, they have had to be taken out of the firing line for their own good.
Pulis revealed: “We made some big signings and I don’t think anyone would say Steven Nzonzi hasn’t done a fantastic job.
“But sometimes things happen which you just can’t legislate for.
“Charlie Adam has had a personal tragedy in his life with the tragic loss of his father.
“He has had problems to face this year which you wouldn’t wish on anyone.
“We have been as supportive as we possibly can.
“The club has, I have and, irrespective of his particular situation, if Charlie or any player needed help we would be there for them.
“Charlie was one of our big signings and people don’t always appreciate that players are human beings and need to be treated as such.
“Michael Kightly started really well for us but lost a bit of form — having said that the whole team lost form and wingers normally suffer when that happens.
“It is usually the players with that little bit of flair who dip when confidence isn’t high.
“But we have high hopes for Kights because he is a top player.
“Now it’s all about bringing that out again when we need it most.”
The same could be said for Pulis who — according to rumours on Twitter quit after the Villa game.
But that is not the Welshman’s way and he is ready to fight his corner again when United visit.
He added: “Certain supporters want to criticise you and you have to be strong enough to handle that.
“But spin it round and there will be other fans who are happy with what we’ve done.
“They won’t mind if, after seven years, we’ve had a dip.
“If you put everything we have achieved over the last seven years in front of them when I took over — even the ones criticising us now — they would have laughed and said ‘You’re dreaming!’”


Does this man listen to what he says?

What he says with regards to Charlie really rankles and it is incredibly classless to use that as an excuse for why he hasn't been playing when he had been messing Charlie around before his Father died, so we all know that isn't the reason for Charlie's absence.

The budget excuse again! We've had more money to spend than most if not all outside the top 6 over the past 5 years. £100m to spend.

He goes on about Swansea's transition taking several years. Err Pulis you've been at the club this time round for 7 years and the style has gone backwards!

Likes to play with width and with pace he says. And he often plays Walters and Shotton as his wingers.

The man has lost his mind.

 

Width and who you can bring in... WTF?

 

He sure is a slippery toad. Bloody good at the blame game though!

 

Quite right History... and a Master of BULL**** Which is why we occasionally call him Prof Clueliss.

 

Thats one of the most shocking things I have seen quoted for TP! Thanks for that Sarge!

 

When was the last time we saw any of this???

 

Exactly

 

Come on now chaps he did use the words Stoke City, i'll admit the rest of it is b*llocks but give him his due.

 

Interesting article
I have been managing for over a decade and his comments as a manager within a business are pretty poor to say the least.
He is clearly not making himself accountable for anything to do with man management-it is up to him to get the best out of players-regardless of personal tragedies and issues that arise. Sometimes someone will need a few days to come to terms with stuff, others will take weeks/months but there are ways of supporting whilst getting the best out of people.

Players lose form and confidence-well do something about it then. Not playing people who are clearly good enough to play, hardly then builds them back up, it has the opposite effect. His comments show a pretty poor ethos of how to manage people, which is primarily his job.

The style of play is clearly his doing-I agree that he does prefer wingers and crosses and he has at times exploited that well when he had Pennant and Etherington working together but one has been exiled and one not been fit and probably past his best. Kightley and Shotton are poor replacements overall but he signed Kightley and seems to over value Shotton by a long chalk. That again has to be his responsibility. (I do believe the players also have to take some responsibility by the way)

The last comment about the money really annoys me. £100m is a tidy sum and to be fair to Coates he has supplied him with a treasure chest way beyond my expectations when we got promoted. If my Head of Service gave me increased resources and I did not improve my and my teams performance, I would be asked to reconsider my career. If I was ungrateful and stupid enough to shout all over the press that others had more and therefore in effect say it was not enough (blame my Head of Service) and this explains the poor performance, I would be sacked.

What Pullis should have said was
"I have struggled to motivate my team since xmas. I am struggling to explain why and am looking at my approach with individuals and the whole team group.
We have under performed and frankly it is not good enough. I have been fantastically supported by Mr Coates financially and the fans have been incredibly loyal during a period when the football has been poor.

The next 6 games are vital to Stoke City, the Chairman, the supporters but also the whole town. We deserve Premiership football and I am going to do my best to ensure we retain our place in the PL. If I can't do this I will be the first to approach the Chairman and tender my notice. Either way I will be discussing my future with the Chairman at the end of the season as we have under performed and I am accountable."

Imagine if he has said that and not what he did say, then we may hold a completely different respect for him.

 

I would think, who is this imposter impersonating our manager.

 

TONY PULIS has defended his under-fire football philosophy by claiming: “Ronaldo and Bale would suit my style brilliantly.”

good god, .

 

Sounds like he's confident of being manager next season.


Tony Pulis is brushing aside speculation over his future by chasing up a handful of possible signings for next season - including Denmark international Andreas Cornelius.


Pulis watched the 20 year-old striker in domestic action in Denmark last Sunday - and returned with a heavy cold for his pains.He revealed today: "We have got targets. He was one that was mentioned, but whether we do any business or not we shall have to see.


"We have been monitoring four or five players in Europe and if our staff are watching players, then it's important I follow it up."I went abroad Sunday when it was cold and I got covered in snow, which is why I'm feeling the way I am."Pulis was in a defiantly upbeat mood - despite his ailment - at today's press conference ahead of Sunday's visit of champions-in-waiting Manchester United.

 

Not confident mate just deluded! He will be gone next season for sure!

 

He's not going to say, '' i'm leaving next week ''.

 

Everything he say's and does shows nothing but utter contempt for the fans and Stoke City F.C. His day's are surely numbered.. even if we stay up and that's a big if as things stand. WHEN he goes I for one will be one happy chappie.. NO MATTER WHAT League we're in next season.