Source: PA
Pulis still looking forward
Tony Pulis has pledged to keep driving Stoke forward on the eve of his 300th game in charge of the team.
The visit of Blackburn in the Barclays Premier League marks the milestone for Pulis, who was first appointed manager at the Britannia Stadium in November 2002.
Having prevented the Potters from slipping into the football league's third tier, Pulis was then sacked in 2005 after falling out with the club's Icelandic owners and spent a year as manager of Plymouth. But Potters chairman Peter Coates brought Pulis back to the club in 2006 and it has been a success story ever since, culminating in promotion to the top flight at the end of the 2007/08 campaign and an impressive 12th-place finish last year.
Stoke are currently occupying 12th spot this season as well and with games in hand on the teams immediately above them - including Blackburn - the club could be about to make the next step up by hitting the top 10 between now and May. Pulis is thinking even further ahead though and has warned his players against complacency as they look to establish themselves as a force in the Premier League.
"It's been lovely. Both spells have been different and they have been enjoyable in lots of respects - but I still have a job to do, a massive job," Pulis said. "We have got to stay in this Premier League for at least three years, like I keep telling everybody. We mustn't get blase about it.
"If we stay in the Premier League for three years then I think the football club will really push on, but it needs that base. The 300 games have been fantastic, to be able to say that. It's a great club and it's a tough club to manage, but I wouldn't have it any other way. The most important thing is that you keep your feet on the ground, you keep working hard and you keep driving forward. I keep relaying that to the players. It's very important that you do that in any profession because you get your ups and downs."
