Tony Pulis in a blaze of glory: Stoke boss heads for FA Cup final

19 April 2011 00:24
For Tony Pulis, the road to an FA Cup final might have ended in a blaze of glory. But it began in just a blaze. [LNB]He was two weeks into his very first job as a boss at Bournemouth when his whole career - and plenty more - nearly disappeared in a puff of smoke.[LNB] Wembley magic: Tony Pulis celebrates Stoke's FA Cup semi-final win[LNB] Let Norman Hayward, the chairman who gave the aggressive young Welshman his first chance as a manager, tell the story. [LNB]'When Harry Redknapp left us to go to West Ham, Tony was his player-coach and was the obvious choice to take over. [LNB]'The club was skint, but he convinced me he needed a car to search for players, so I bought him an old maroon Vauxhall that was falling apart. [LNB]'We went to Runcorn to see a centre forward. I can't remember if he was any good. And on the way back at about one in the morning it just burst into flames. [LNB]'There was smoke everywhere. Thankfully there was also an extinguisher and Tony just pulled it on to the hard shoulder, managed to douse the fire, and we just got back in and drove home. I think he kept that car on the road for another year or so.' [LNB]It's fair to assume that Roberto Mancini, the manager of the Manchester City millionaires who will face Pulis at Wembley on May 14, has never had to deal with that particular management problem. [LNB] Career path: Pulis in action for Bristol Rovers (above, centre) and during his days at Bournemouth (below left) and Gillingham (below right)[LNB] [LNB] But then Pulis, the 53-year-old who has put Stoke, the club of Sir Stanley Matthews and Gordon Banks, back on to the big stage, has always been very strictly a blue-collar boss.[LNB] The son of a Newport steel worker, he learned his football playing on a patch of waste ground next to the railway beside the docks. 'We'd join in with the dockers and steel workers who'd be having a game after a few pints,' he recalls. [LNB]'They'd still have their steel toecaps on and didn't hold back just because we were kids. In those circumstances you learn quickly.' [LNB]Three years among the multimillionaires of the Premier League, complete with his own big contract, has never made him forget those lessons. Or something else he learned when he first played football for a living.[LNB] It's his proud boast that he's never been relegated since he began life as a boss back at Bournemouth in 1992. But he was once part of a squad that went down as a player, and according to his close friend and Wales youth coach David Williams it has coloured most of his work since. [LNB]The pair were together as young players at Bristol Rovers, and Williams recalled: 'Tony would be the first to admit he wasn't gifted as a player, but he made the most of what he had. He was hard and had a competitive streak in him, and even at that age he wouldn't tolerate anybody in a team that wasn't prepared to be the same way. [LNB] Happy Potter: Pulis takes over as Stoke boss in November 2002[LNB]'There was a fall-out between the manager Bobby Campbell and Terry Cooper who was his player-coach and the whole business split the club.[LNB] 'There were people who took one side or the other in the boardroom, in the offices, and it filtered back to the players as well. It became not a happy dressing room, and not a nice place to go to work every day. [LNB]'Tony was only 21 but he was very passionate, very vocal. Let's say he was not the sort of person who wanted to listen to the opposite side of an argument and he wouldn't be slow to make sure they heard his side. [LNB]'Rovers got relegated the following year and I think more than anything that convinced him from the start that a club could only be successful if everybody was pulling in the same direction.[LNB] 'If you look at everything he's done as a manager since then that is probably what every one of his clubs has been founded on.' [LNB]The youngest ever to pass the FA's old full badge coaching qualification - the equivalent of today's 'A' licence - Pulis had to come up the hard way at Dean Court then Gillingham, Bristol City and Plymouth before reaching the promised land of the Premier League. [LNB]But that was after his first coaching job in charge of Rovers' youth team when Bobby Gould was boss. A combative player, he brought the same principles to the training ground. Former Colchester manager Geraint Williams said: 'I upset Gouldy for some reason one day and got sent to train with the kids. [LNB]'After about five minutes one of the first year YTS boys "topped" me, and I grabbed him by the neck.'Tony shouted: "Put him down, I've only just taught him how to do that".' [LNB] Decent man: Pulis commiserates with opposite number Owen Coyle on Sunday[LNB]At Gillingham there wasn't even a training ground, so he had to find a local park. 'I got the groundsman, Bill Collins, to take a set of portable goals up on the tractor, Pulis recalled. 'We jogged there from the club. It was on a slope but we did some work, then started on some shapes. [LNB]'As we did so this fellow walks across the pitch with his dog. Right in the middle of the pitch the dog stops, goes to the toilet, then moves on. [LNB]'I've brought half-a-dozen players in and they are looking and saying: "This isn't the picture he painted". It's a long way away, but I'll never forget it. It makes you appreciate where you've come from.' [LNB]Gould remembers: 'Tony was the slowest runner I ever saw. A good tackler, mind, and a fantastic football brain. [LNB]'I saw a lot of myself in him. The same passion for the game. People look and think you are a raving loony, but when players who have got talent work with those sort of people then they realise they are being taught how to make the most of their gifts.[LNB] 'He's done it for Stoke's players, and not just in a one-off situation but consistently. [LNB]'I texted him on Sunday night to say: "Brilliant, but don't leave it half way, go and win it." [LNB]'It was only after I'd sent the text I realised I hadn't needed to. He's not the sort of person that ever does half a job at anything.'[LNB] Bolton's Cahill stunned by Wembley thrashing at the hands of StokeStoke 0 Bolton 5! Potters' triumph turned into trauma... by club's websiteThat's Potty! Five-star Stoke shatter Wembley record to reach FA Cup finalStoke heroics are victory over Premier League's financial giants, says chiefAll the latest Stoke news, features and opinion[LNB] [LNB]  Explore more:People: Tony Pulis, Harry Redknapp, Roberto Mancini Places: Wales

Source: Daily_Mail