Stoke City: No unrest at Brit, says Pulis
And the Stoke boss says he won't tolerate players whingeing when they are left out of his starting 11, because he insists the needs of the group must always take priority over the desires of the individual.
Recent omissions of the likes of Liam Lawrence and Tuncay have prompted criticism from some quarters among the City faithful.
And Pulis, almost inevitably with the size and quality of squad now available to him, is faced with further selection dilemmas at Blackburn this afternoon (3pm) following Abdoulaye Faye's return from suspension and Glenn Whelan's availability after injury.
"It's not about the 11 players I pick for Saturday, but the 18 to 22 I pick throughout the season," Pulis stated.
"Those who don't play this Saturday may play at Arsenal the week after. We've got six games in December and the majority will end up playing games because of injuries and suspensions.
"There's a lot of egotistical people who are just out for themselves, but we don't have that at this football club.
"The biggest thing here is picking enough points for the football club and not getting swallowed up by egos."
But he hinted that it was a constant battle to keep egos in check when shelling out ever higher transfer fees and wages on increasingly bigger reputations.
"Premier League players are almost film stars and it's the ego you are fighting against all of the time," he explained.
"We have to manage it properly and learn to deal with it. Players read papers and listen to radios where people say they should be playing. They can get carried away with it all.
"I have to avoid that because players are part of a group getting well paid to get results.
"But I don't think we've got to the stage where we've got those sort of players in this football club."
And he took a swipe at the academy system for helping to breed the kind of big-heads capable of disrupting senior dressing rooms later in life.
"I've never been an advocate of the academies, much preferring the old apprenticeship system instead.
"They are given everything before they've even achieved anything.
"Then when you ask them for something back later on there can be a problem."
Striker James Beattie is a late doubt for today's game at home town club Blackburn after suffering a kick to his calf in training.
And with heavy rain forecast ahead of the game, Pulis says he will wait until the last minute to assess conditions before finalising his line-up.
Potters' old boys recall a golden age: Page 54
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