This story first appeared in The Sentinel in May 2008

Stoke City writer Martin Spinks speaks to manager Tony Pulis after promotion to the Premier League

MARTIN SPINKS: Be honest, have there been many tears since promotion?

TONY PULIS: Only when I had to buy Rudgie a drink. That broke my heart.

MS: What was your favourite moment during the promotion celebrations?

TP: The five minutes I had with my staff straight after the end of the game because they're the ones who've been with you all the way, good times and bad. Also the five minutes I had with the wife and children in the boardroom a bit later on.

MS: Roughly how many phone calls and text messages have you had congratulating you since promotion?

TP: I turned my phone off for about 24 hours after the Leicester game. When I turned it on there were 185 text messages and goodness knows how many answerphone messages.

MS: And who was the most famous person to phone or text their celebrations?

TP: My wife, of course.

MS: Apart from your good lady.

TP: There were lots, but it was particularly touching to hear from people back in South Wales I haven't seen for three decades.

There was also one from the priest who married us. His name is Father Daley – no, not Arthur – and he just happens to be working in Leicester now.

On the day of the game he rang me up to say some of his congregation had asked him to pray that Leicester stay up, but he said he had to hold his hands up to them and say he wanted Stoke to get promoted. He had an affinity with Stoke because of Sir Stanley Matthews, so you can imagine how happy he was when I first came to Stoke.

He came to one game and was so chuffed to be in the boardroom after the match.

MS: Could you quite believe the cheers Peter Coates was getting after everything he's been through in the past?

TP: Well, he deserved those cheers. I've said it before and I'll say it again, without his help, guidance and finances we would never have realised our ambitions.

MS: Is your relationship with him a kind of uncle/nephew relationship?

TP: It's probably more like father and son because of the way he has to sort me out sometimes. I'll say this, though, whatever happens in the future, I will always want to stay friends with Peter Coates because of the respect I have for him as both a football man and a human being.

MS: The likes of Ricardo Fuller and Liam Lawrence have deservedly received their plaudits, but which unsung hero would you give special mention to?

TP: It's difficult to single one of your players out for anything, but when you consider his goals, his work-rate and the fact he nearly always played out of position, then you'd have to give a special mention here to Richard Cresswell.

He got 12 goals, including some very important ones, worked unbelievably hard and never moaned or groaned at being asked to play on the left.

He embraced it for the sake of the team. He epitomised what our team and squad was all about this year.

MS: Which player has improved most during the past season?

TP: Ryan Shawcross. We all know he came to us from Manchester United at the start of the season without any senior experience to his name in this country.

He did very well initially and then had a dip, but we had to stick with him until eventually he did have a break towards the end of the season. But he came back strongly in some big games to show his value.

MS: Apart from the Leicester game, perhaps, which of the 46 matches really stick out for you?

TP: There were two main games for me. First the home game against Scunthorpe when we came from 2-0 down at half-time to win 3-2. That 25 minutes in the second half was absolutely electric when we completely battered them.

Then there was the win at Colchester in the penultimate game. Everybody was clued in to what Hull were doing elsewhere, but my focus was just on winning at Colchester because I knew how crucial it was to go into the final game with our destiny in our own hands.

MS: Will the Premier League change you so much that we see you on the touchline in a suit and wired up at the ear, not to mention doing the rounds of TV studios up and down the country?

TP: And with a cigar in one hand and a glass of champagne in the other? I don't think so.

MS: As a Manchester United fan in your youth – something we can just about forgive you for – is that the fixture you will look forward to most next season?

TP: Not really because I'm genuinely looking forward to every single game.

MS: Be honest, will it give you an extra buzz lining up against Fergie, Wenger and co?

TP: Of course. The opportunity to pit your wits against some of the best managers in the world – and if Fergie wins the Champions' League he's most probably the best Britain has ever seen – is obviously a great thrill.

MS: Would you take fourth from bottom if it was offered now?

TP: I don't want to talk about where we should or shouldn't be. The most important thing is that we are able to put together a team that can compete.

MS: How many new faces do you think you will need for next season?

TP: I don't think that's the question you should be asking. I think the question we have to answer is: if there is a player available who will improve us, can we sign him?

MS: And what kind of player – apart from good ones obviously – will you need?

TP: I've spoken to a whole host of managers who have made it from the Championship to the Premiership and they talk about the additional quality up there, but also about the pace and the power.

I think you can also add experience to that, so those are the factors you really have to take into account in trying to bring the right players in.

MS: When do you think will be the busiest period this coming summer for new players coming in?

TP: Well last year I said it was about now – and it didn't happen for us. So I'll keep quiet this time. Again, the important thing is signing the right players when we can, whenever that is over the summer.

MS: If money were no object, which player from anywhere in the world would you sign this summer?

TP: I suppose you'd have to say Ronaldo, not the one in Italy of course.

MS: Finally Tony, your stock has gone through the roof with promotion, but is there anything that could prise you away from Stoke before the start of next season?

TP: No. I now have a responsibility to try to establish this football club in the Premier League.

I have now fulfilled my ambition by getting Stoke into the Premier League and I'm pleased for a lot of people, particularly Peter and my family.

But now I have a new ambition and that is to try my damnedest to establish Stoke City as a Premier League club. That will be the greatest challenge I've ever had.

To do that will not only require a lot of hard work, but everybody at the football club has also got to get together and stick together – whether it's people on the terraces, the groundsman, the kit man... absolutely everybody.