Tony Pulis
Anthony Richard Pulis is a Welsh former professional football manager and former footballer who last managed Sheffield Wednesday.
Pulis obtained his FA coaching badge at age 19, followed by his UEFA 'A' licence aged 21 – making him one of the youngest professional players ever to have obtained the qualification. His son, Anthony, was a professional footballer and played at Stoke. Pulis had a 17-year career as a defender where he played for Bristol Rovers, Newport County, AFC Bournemouth and Gillingham. He also had a short spell in Hong Kong with Happy Valley.
Pulis took his first steps into management at Bournemouth, where he was a player/coach and then Harry Redknapp's assistant. He then took control when Redknapp left the club. He then went on to Gillingham before leaving in 1999 after a dispute with chairman Paul Scally. Pulis then had unsuccessful spells at Bristol City and Portsmouth before being appointed manager of Stoke City in 2002. He guided Stoke through a tough 2002–03 season avoiding relegation to the Second Division on the final day of the season. He spent two more seasons with Stoke before being dismissed by Stoke's Icelandic board for "failing to exploit the foreign market". He spent the 2005–06 season at Plymouth Argyle before returning to Stoke along with Peter Coates. After narrowly missing out on a play-off spot in the 2006–07 season he guided Stoke to the Premier League in the 2007–08 season by finishing runners-up in the Championship.
With Stoke amongst the favourites for relegation upon their return to the top flight after a 23-year absence, Stoke went on to comfortably survive and finished in 12th position. Pulis made history during the 2010–11 season as he guided Stoke to their first FA Cup Final after beating Bolton Wanderers 5–0 in the semi-final. The Potters, however, lost the final 1–0 to Manchester City, but had the consolation of qualifying for European football. In the UEFA Europa League, Stoke lost 2–0 on aggregate in the round of 32 to Spanish giants Valencia. The 2012–13 season saw Stoke make little progress and Pulis left the club by mutual consent on 21 May 2013.
Pulis returned to management on 23 November 2013 joining Crystal Palace on a two-and-a-half-year contract. He guided Palace away from relegation, to their highest Premier League finish of 11th in 2013–14, which earned him the Premier League Manager of the Season award. He left the club, however, shortly before the start of the subsequent season. He joined West Bromwich Albion in January 2015, a post he held until November 2017. Pulis achieved a top half finish with West Brom in the 2016–17 season, finishing 10th, but the club made a poor start to the following season, culminating in his dismissal. On Boxing Day 2017, Pulis was appointed manager of Middlesbrough, a post he held until May 2019. On 13 November 2020, Pulis returned to management when he was named manager of Sheffield Wednesday; however, on 28 December, he was dismissed after 10 games in charge. He subsequently announced his retirement from football management.
Playing career
Pulis began his career at Bristol Rovers where he joined their school of football excellence in Eastville from Newport YMCA. Pulis cites his time at Eastville as an excellent grounding with his Rovers teammate and friend Ian Holloway also making it in football management. "We learned our trade at a football club with really, really good people who had old fashioned values, I truly believe that it's because of the way we were brought up back then that we have managed to go on and achieve what we have done in the game. The basic principles were drilled into us, both on and off the pitch. Nothing was given to us and we had to work very, very hard for everything we got."Pulis made 85 league appearances for the Pirates before leaving to join Hong Kong club Happy Valley AA in 1982. The club finished second in the Hong Kong First Division League and won the Hong Kong Senior Challenge Shield in his eight-month stint with the club. He then returned to Rovers the following year and made a further 45 league appearances before moving to his home town club Newport County in 1984. At Newport, Pulis became a popular member of the squad and his former County teammate David Giles believes Pulis was always destined for top-level management.
With County struggling financially, Harry Redknapp signed Pulis at AFC Bournemouth, spending three years at Dean Court before joining Gillingham in 1989 for £10,000 on a three-year deal. Gillingham manager Damien Richardson had envisaged utilising Pulis as a sweeper but his time in Kent was blighted by an injury suffered in a pre-season friendly against West Ham, limiting him to just 16 appearances. After contemplating a career outside of football and studying for a small business qualification Pulis returned to Bournemouth a year later for a fee of £15,000 to take up a player/coach role. He made 16 appearances, scoring one goal, while in this role.
Managerial career
AFC Bournemouth
Pulis was promoted to the position of manager in 1992, following Harry Redknapp's decision to leave the club for Premier League side West Ham United. Pulis spent two seasons at Bournemouth, both seasons saw the "Cherries" finish in 17th position before moving on. During his time at the club Pulis spent less than £400,000 on transfers, but recouped nearly £2.7 million in player sales. Among his purchases was Steve Fletcher, signed from Hartlepool United for £30,000, who would go on to make a record 728 appearances for the Dorset side across two spells.Gillingham
Pulis then joined Gillingham in the summer of 1995, whom he managed for a further four seasons, turning a team that had struggled at the very bottom of the Football League into a promotion winning one in his first season, and laying the foundations for the club's eventual elevation to the First Division for the first time in their history.In the 1995–96 season the Kent side gained promotion after finishing second behind Preston North End, setting a record for the fewest goals conceded by a team in the course of a 46-game Football League season in the process, with goalkeeper Jim Stannard keeping 29 clean sheets. The following season Gillingham started poorly, sitting in the relegation places towards the end of 1996, but improved to finish in 11th place and just six points below the promotion play-off places. The 1997–98 season saw further improvement, with the Gills finishing in 8th place and missing out on the play-off places only on the goals-scored rule.
In the 1999 Second Division play-off final, the "Gills" were 2–0 up with less than two minutes left, following goals by the prolific partnership of Robert Taylor and Carl Asaba, only to see Manchester City score twice, the equaliser in injury time, and after that win a penalty shoot-out 3–1. Following the defeat, Pulis was controversially sacked by the club amidst claims of gross misconduct. He later brought a £400,000 court case against Gillingham chairman Paul Scally for unpaid bonuses, which was settled out of court in 2001 for £75,000.
Bristol City
Pulis was appointed manager of Bristol City in July 1999, prior to the start of the 1999–2000 season. A previous long stint at rivals Bristol Rovers meant that Pulis's appointment was met with mixed reception. He made several reasonably big purchases including Steve Jones and former Rovers player Peter Beadle, but his popularity hit an all-time low only six months into his term as manager and when rumours surfaced of a switch to Portsmouth, home fans chanted for him to leave. He moved on to Portsmouth, where Milan Mandarić had recently taken over as chairman.Portsmouth
In January 2000, Pulis left Bristol City to become manager of Portsmouth. He took Portsmouth from the bottom three to mid-table but lasted only ten months in the job before being dismissed and replaced by Steve Claridge in October 2000.Stoke City
Pulis was then out of work for two years, before the resignation of Stoke City's manager Steve Cotterill early into the 2002–03 season led to Pulis being given the job that November. Pulis immediately found himself in a relegation battle and it looked likely that the club would be relegated back to the Second Division only a year after being promoted. Pulis, however, completed the signings of striker Ade Akinbiyi and goalkeeper Mark Crossley, on loan from Crystal Palace and Middlesbrough respectively, who helped turn around the club's bad run. Stoke avoided relegation on the final day of the 2002–03 season with a 1–0 win over Reading at the Britannia Stadium, with Akinbiyi scoring the only goal of the match. Pulis rates Stoke's survival in 2002–03 as one of his best achievements in management.In the following season, 2003–04, Pulis guided the club to an 11th-place finish. Tensions grew between the manager and chairman, Gunnar Gíslason, in the 2004–05 season. Pulis was frustrated with his lack of transfer funds which led to Dave Brammer and Steve Simonsen, both of whom were free agents, being his only significant signings prior to the start of the season. Pulis, however, did add Anthony Pulis, his son, and Lewis Buxton to his squad in January 2005. The disagreement between Pulis and the club's Icelandic ownership culminated with Pulis parting company with the club on 28 June 2005. He was dismissed for "failing to exploit the foreign transfer market" by then chairman Gíslason. Following his dismissal, Pulis bemoaned the club's decision to sell Ade Akinbiyi to Championship rivals Burnley, stating, "We sold our top scorer and never replaced him." Dutch manager Johan Boskamp was named as Pulis's successor on 29 June 2005, a day after Pulis was dismissed.