Tony Pulis

Last updated 29th, September, 2008

Tony Pulis (born January 16, 1958, Newport) is in his second spell as manager of Stoke City.

Pulis first took charge of Stoke City in 2002, but left in 2005 to become manager of Plymouth Argyle.

However, he returned to the Britannia Stadium in 2006 and helped guide Stoke City to the Premier League for the first time in their history.

Tony Pulis’ playing career started at Bristol Rovers, and he also represented Happy Valley, Newport County, AFC Bournemouth and Gillingham as he made more than 300 appearances.

Pulis took his first steps into management in 1992 when he replaced Harry Redknapp at AFC Bournemouth.

In 1995 he left to join Gillingham for a four-season stint, which saw him guide them to the Division Two play-off final where they were beaten in a penalty shoot-out by Manchester City.

Short spells at Bristol City and Portsmouth followed before he replaced Steve Cotterill as Stoke City manager in November 2002, with the Potters struggling in the Championship.

However, the impact of Pulis was not immediate and he had to wait until December to record his first victory – a 3-2 home success against Sheffield Wednesday, which ended a depressing sequence of three months without a win.

Pulis signed experienced players like goalkeeper Mark Crossley and striker Ade Akinbiyi to boost his ailing squad as they looked to salvage their status.

Indeed, Akinbiyi proved to be the hero of the hour with a 54th-minute winner in the 1-0 victory over Reading at the Britannia Stadium on the last day of the season, which condemned Brighton to relegation.
Pulis was briefly linked with the vacancy at Cardiff City in the summer of 2003, but his main focus was to strengthen the Stoke City squad to ensure another season of struggle wasn’t on the agenda at the Britannia Stadium.

Goalkeeper Ed de Goey, defender Clint Hill and midfielders Darel Russell and Keith Andrews were all drafted in as Pulis guided Stoke City to 11th place in his first full season at the helm.

In November 2004, Pulis agreed a new contract at Stoke City, but didn’t sign the deal until April the following year.

However, his exit from the Britannia Stadium was not long in arriving as, at the end of the 2004/2005 season, Pulis was sacked for not signing enough foreign players the Icelandic owners craved and was replaced by Johann Boskamp.

The Icelandic owners were also shortly to be seen ending their involvement in Stoke City, when in May 2006, former chairman Peter Coates regained control of the club.

Pulis returns to the Britannia Stadium

Coates made Tony Pulis his number one choice and, in June 2006, a compensation deal was reached with Pulis’ new club Plymouth Argyle for his return to the Britannia Stadium.

Pulis signed a 12-month rolling contract, but his return was not greeted warmly in all quarters, with some Stoke City supporters opposed to his second coming.

Ahead of the 2006/2007 season, Pulis made arguably one of his best-ever signings when he lured Ricardo Fuller to the Britannia Stadium for £500,000 from Southampton.

Stoke City spent the season challenging for promotion to the Premier League, with Pulis using the loan market to good effect in securing the likes of Salif Diao, Lee Hendrie, Patrik Berger and Liam Lawrence on loan to boost his squad.

Stoke City went into the final match of the 2006/2007 season needing to win at QPR – and hope Southampton failed to beat Southend at home – to reach the play-offs.

However, Pulis’ men could only draw 1-1 in west London, to end the season in seventh place in the Championship.

That close failure was all forgotten by Stoke City fans in the 2007/2008 campaign as Tony Pulis guided the club back to the top flight of English football for the first time in 23 years – and there first foray in the glitz and glamour of the Premier League.

Defenders Ryan Shawcross and Leon Cort, plus  midfielders Glenn Whelan, Richard Cresswell and Danny Pugh were all bought on a permanent basis as Pulis splashed the cash to achieve the Premier League dream.

A 1-0 victory at Colchester United in the penultimate match, ensured Stoke City only needed to avoid defeat at home to Leicester City on the final day of the season to pip Hull City to the second automatic promotion place.

Tony Pulis’ side ground out a 0-0 draw to achieve their objective of Premier League football in front of a full house at the Britannia Stadium.