​TONY Pulis failed – and failed miserably – when it came to his design for Stoke’s spanking new training centre.

The Stoke manager wanted a place of work, most probably a place of pain, with no frills  and certainly no creature  comforts.

What he got was a magnificent facility bordering here and there on the downright luxurious.

TP can always kick any easy-street complacency out of his players on the training pitch.

Indoors, however, just about every requirement and whim is catered for within Stoke’s £5m state-of-the-art training complex.

Covering a total of 1,800 square metres over two floors, the  facility has dragged the club’s training ground from the middle of the 20th century to the middle of the 21st.

The project bares testament to the planning,  creativity and diligent supervision of club director Richard Smith.

“We visited clubs like Wolves, Everton and Celtic to see their facilities,” he said, “and then we employed  architects who had worked on training facilities at Chelsea, Liverpool and Manchester United.

“The outside of the building has a metallic look because we wanted something that looked modern and striking.

“We’ve used cherry wood for the panelling, doors, desks and benches in the dressing rooms to reflect the environment here at Clayton Wood, while the use of burgundy is to reflect the club’s colours.

“When we first designed the building the manager didn’t want any luxury, but we put some nice touches in the reception area to create a good impression when people  walk in.”

That impression continues throughout the building, while attention to detail is so exact that even the two photocopying machines are labelled  Matthews and Banks as every effort is made to acknowledge the club’s history.

Our tour then turns right from reception and and into the media room – christened somewhat inauspiciously last week  when Asmir Begovic told The Sentinel how keen he was to play in the Carling Cup the following night.

The wood-panelled suite  contains a stage for interviewees and seating for some 36 hacks, while a drop-down screen allows DVD presentations to be made to the players.

Then we are into the main ground-floor corridor adorned with more than a dozen framed photographs of Rory Delap throwing, Mama Sidibe  celebrating and Tony Pulis with a face almost totally  hidden by shadow. “They caught your best side,” his wife wryly observed on seeing it for the first time.

The laundry, like every other room except the sound-proof media suite, is both spacious and well illuminated by  natural light, housing some eight washing machines (including two big enough to wash your family in) for a workload weighing an estimated three tonnes every week.

At one end of the ground floor there are eight Academy dressing rooms of various sizes for various age groups, while the middle of the ground floor is taken up by a generously-sized gym, a four-bed treatment room and a six-foot deep hydrotherapy pool with  windows halfway down so the physios can glimpse a close-up of the players’ legs.

At the far end of the ground-floor corridor we find the first-team dressing room, complete with security-coded lockers for 30 players and the facility to pipe in their own music.

The new ice bath replaces the plastic wheelie bins into which the players have long been dunking themselves after training.

The entrance, in deference to the motto on the old Stoke City badge, is decorated with the words United, Strength Is Stronger – but in English for the benefit of those players who don’t speak Latin.

Next to the dressing room entrance is the exit to the  training pitches, designed along the lines of a short tunnel and with a giant photographic mural of promotion-celebrating fans on either side.

Next stop is the upper floor and, like downstairs, the right-hand side of the building is devoted to the Academy in the shape of offices and a lecture room featuring an interactive white board and 18  computers.

A short walk along the upper floor corridor guides you to the canteen – or refectory as they say in the Premier League – complete with seating for 60, three wide-screen TVs pinned to the walls and a circle of settees for after-dinner chit chat.

Facilities here are The Ritz compared to the transport cafe previously serving players and staff.

The self-service salad and fruit bar is accompanied by a drinks cabinet occupied by water, milk and beetroot juice – yes, a 70ml bottle of concentrated beetroot juice promising you a “stamina shot”.

Finally, it’s back along the upper-floor corridor towards the left-hand side of the building which takes you to a cluster of glass-walled offices for the manager, club secretary, coaches and scouting staff.

Pulis has two computers on his desk – not bad going for someone who struggles to find the “on” button – plus a   coffee table and chairs for any player that may need reminding of his responsibilities.

The club’s director of football, John Rudge, and senior scout, Colin Dobson, are the only members of staff around, sifting delicately through the January sales catalogue for the next round of multi-million pound signings.

Work never stops, not even at this level of comfort, so TP need not worry.