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Post by Deleted on Jan 29, 2015 11:06:09 GMT
this HAS to be a WUM rather than a genuine fan of another club.....
is "Did he ever throw games against certain sides" the kind of normal thing you'd usually ask about any manager or simply a way of getting everyone arguing about Valencia?????
my suggestion would be shitbin!
EDIT: in fact EVERY one of his questions are specific things that people on here have singled out as reasons to abuse Pulis in the past and NOt the kind of things anyone would ever normally worry about in their new manager....so obviously and transparently a troll, how can no-one else spot this???
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Post by ohbottom on Jan 29, 2015 11:08:48 GMT
God yeah, forget about young players. I wouldn't be surprised to see him pie Berahino off at the first opportunity. Anyone below 25 is often a "kiddie". With a few exceptions. Having said that I fucking love the bloke for putting my team on the map and I'd happily buy him a pint if ever the opportunity arose. He's a cracking manager for clubs like you/us and you will not go down with him in charge. Meant to ask about academies. Every club likes to see a youngster come through the ranks, for years at Albion we criticised managers for not giving youngsters a chance, and then in fairness it turned out none of them were good enough - I think it's been a similar situation with Stoke, with Shotton being the only one to make a half decent career elsewhere so far? So it could (I'm hoping anyway) be argued he didnt play them because they weren't good enough rather than just young? The problem is touch wood our academy looks to have some exceptional talents coming through. Obviously Berahino is the main one, Nabi looks like the next talent to make the first team and maybe Daniels at some point next year. Below that the players aged around 14/15/16 are meant to be up there with any other academy in the country. Obviously anything can happen between the age of 14 and making it and even 16 to pro is a big leap but would you feel it's fair to say these players chances of making it with us have reduced under Pulis? We have also been linked with Demarai Gray from Blues, young exciting 18 year old winger for around £4m. Again may be wrong but I just dont see this as the type of signing Pulis makes when he could sign Matt Jarvis to do a solid job instead (I wouldn't actually mind Jarvis signing for the record) For our Tone, academies are a distraction from "front of house". Unlikely to bring on young players unless they are hatchet-job FBs or budding CHs with a smidgin of pace so he can play them out wide and call them "the new Gareth Bale".
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Post by Deleted on Jan 29, 2015 11:15:52 GMT
It's simple really:
He will keep you up every year, but fans will become alienated when you appear to be defending defeats (my breaking point was a one nil defeat at home to West Ham, where he used all three subs to bring on a more defensive player).
The only real question is how long will it take for the vocal minority (seems a while since I last heard that phrase) to become the unignorable majority?
I think the only gripe we have is we were slagged off non stop about our style, then after deciding after a patient near decade it was time to move on we were called ungrateful.
I can't see the fans at West Brom tolerating him for as long simply because staying up in the premier league isn't a new experience for you.
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Post by Pugsley on Jan 29, 2015 11:21:43 GMT
Prepare to have your expectations lowered systematically over the next 4 months. Then you'll get a break but it will kick in again at the start of pre-season. All this despite spending 10's of millions on footballers. Prepare to have your fanbase split down the middle. I won't mention the football.
Hopefully for you he will keep you up (which he will with one arm tied behind his back) then bugger off after falling out with people over money.
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Post by greystokie on Jan 29, 2015 11:25:58 GMT
By now you will be getting a clear idea of what it will be like on the pitch - from the comments above. Apart from that he will polarise your support like no other: call them Rimmers and Wankstains to maintain the tradition and he will spawn endless debate on your message boards long after he has gone.
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Post by terrorofturfmoor on Jan 29, 2015 11:39:27 GMT
Sorry to see the Bojan news, seems a likeable guy and couldn't of happened at a worse time for him with the football he had been playing. Also seen a suggestion of Sinclair on this board. From what we saw of him last year you would be better bringing Trevor Sinclair out of retirement. One of the most disappointing signings we have made in along time, offered absolutely nothing and barely made the squad let alone starting 11 for the second half of the season. By all accounts just couldn't be bothered any more. Anyway, Pulis is already splitting a lot of us fans. Nobody really doubts that when it comes to purely keeping us up this year he was the best option available so I'm not looking for input on the results side of his management, but there's a few other things that I assume you guys will know about him more than anyone else. Is his style as bad as is made out? Honestly, without wishing to cause offence, I'm one of those you could probably label in the rather 'rather get relegated that watch that every week' camp. I have no problem with what he did with you in your first season or 2 in the PL, and if someone had done that with us when we first came up I would have felt the same. But after the novelty of being in the PL wore off did the football remain as bad to watch? Will he ever look to progress a team? Again one of the main arguments is that ideally Pulis will come in, keep us up by any means and then progress us in the summer to a better style of play. I never saw any of this at Stoke (feel free to correct me) and your results, points tally's, finishing positions, goals score etc all seems to suggest things stayed pretty much the same. How good/bad is his transfer record? When we had Dan Ashworth in charge our transfer policy was probably the main reason for our success. Since he left for the FA our record has been appalling so in this regard it can't get much worse I suppose. I think the set up now is probably similar to yours when Pulis was there, with a Director of Football in similar in place (did you guys have Rudge in that role?) but in reality Pulis calls the shots. I know every manager has good/bad signings and Pulis seems to have done much better with his lower cost buys than his big money deals. In short if Pulis came back to Stoke woudl you rather him or a DoF or similar in charge of bringing players in? Will we end up with 4 centre backs in defence? We've already seen Lescott shifted to left back last week and another CB bought in. Wisdom supposedly is a centre back although he always played right back or Liverpool and has played there all season for us for I'll let that slide for now. I seem to remember you guys crying out for proper full backs for a few years and not getting them. Pocognoli was one of our few decent summer signings and in many fans views was one of our better players before Christmas. Since Pulis came in he cant get a look in either in league or cup games with Lescott and Chris Baird preffered instead of him. Can we expect more of this? Will he sign/trust foreign players? Or at least foreign players who come from abroad, rather than someone who had already been playing in the PL for a few years. There's a view that he's come in and without even looking like players like Varela, Blanco, Gamboa, Pocognoli has decided they dont fit. You could argue he went with the previous coaching teams views on them but they left as well so I would assume everyone had a blank slate. All the players we have been linked with are either British or have played in the PL before. Is there much point in his having a foreign scouting department with Pulis here? Did Pulis 'throw' away games against certain sides? His record against the traditional top sides seemed acceptable at home, although mainly down to the points taken off Arsenal. However for a manager/side famed for making things so difficult for sides your away record from what I can see was (and again, no offence) woeful. Now most managers will naturally have a poor record away at the big 4 but his seems particularly bad with a team that normally keeps things so tight regularly shipping 3+ goals a game. Is it a case that his style simply didn't work against those sides away from home and he refused to try to adapt it, or was there a feeling amongst you guys he didn't believe his sides could win these games? Good luck for the season, from an ironic point of view it would be pretty funny to see you come to the Hawthorns, dominate possession and then us score from a set piece. It seems a decent number of our fans (although not all) now reckon they always rated Pulis and never liked Mowbrays tippy tappy stuff in the first place :-) For me you've answered all your own questions, everything you've put is what you should expect!!! Be prepared to feel embarrassment when you pick up a tabloid and read your match reports, and hear other supporters point of view on your team!!!!!
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Post by Amo on Jan 29, 2015 11:40:04 GMT
Sorry to see the Bojan news, seems a likeable guy and couldn't of happened at a worse time for him with the football he had been playing. Also seen a suggestion of Sinclair on this board. From what we saw of him last year you would be better bringing Trevor Sinclair out of retirement. One of the most disappointing signings we have made in along time, offered absolutely nothing and barely made the squad let alone starting 11 for the second half of the season. By all accounts just couldn't be bothered any more. Anyway, Pulis is already splitting a lot of us fans. Nobody really doubts that when it comes to purely keeping us up this year he was the best option available so I'm not looking for input on the results side of his management, but there's a few other things that I assume you guys will know about him more than anyone else. Is his style as bad as is made out? Honestly, without wishing to cause offence, I'm one of those you could probably label in the rather 'rather get relegated that watch that every week' camp. I have no problem with what he did with you in your first season or 2 in the PL, and if someone had done that with us when we first came up I would have felt the same. But after the novelty of being in the PL wore off did the football remain as bad to watch? As others have said depends which "style" he operates, suffice to say we were about 2,000 season ticket holders down in the season he left. It wasn't pretty to watch. Will he ever look to progress a team? Again one of the main arguments is that ideally Pulis will come in, keep us up by any means and then progress us in the summer to a better style of play. I never saw any of this at Stoke (feel free to correct me) and your results, points tally's, finishing positions, goals score etc all seems to suggest things stayed pretty much the same. He will keep you up but as for progression who knows? Plus what you interpret as progress may not be the same as TP. How good/bad is his transfer record? When we had Dan Ashworth in charge our transfer policy was probably the main reason for our success. Since he left for the FA our record has been appalling so in this regard it can't get much worse I suppose. I think the set up now is probably similar to yours when Pulis was there, with a Director of Football in similar in place (did you guys have Rudge in that role?) but in reality Pulis calls the shots. I know every manager has good/bad signings and Pulis seems to have done much better with his lower cost buys than his big money deals. In short if Pulis came back to Stoke woudl you rather him or a DoF or similar in charge of bringing players in? He's OK with "bargain buys" but don't give him afew million to spend as you've got to question his judgement on some of his buys with us. Will we end up with 4 centre backs in defence? We've already seen Lescott shifted to left back last week and another CB bought in. Wisdom supposedly is a centre back although he always played right back or Liverpool and has played there all season for us for I'll let that slide for now. I seem to remember you guys crying out for proper full backs for a few years and not getting them. Pocognoli was one of our few decent summer signings and in many fans views was one of our better players before Christmas. Since Pulis came in he cant get a look in either in league or cup games with Lescott and Chris Baird preffered instead of him. Can we expect more of this? He does have a record of buying midfielders and then playing them out of position in defence. Will he sign/trust foreign players? Or at least foreign players who come from abroad, rather than someone who had already been playing in the PL for a few years. There's a view that he's come in and without even looking like players like Varela, Blanco, Gamboa, Pocognoli has decided they dont fit. You could argue he went with the previous coaching teams views on them but they left as well so I would assume everyone had a blank slate. All the players we have been linked with are either British or have played in the PL before. Is there much point in his having a foreign scouting department with Pulis here? He won't be buying any South Americans for you! Did Pulis 'throw' away games against certain sides? His record against the traditional top sides seemed acceptable at home, although mainly down to the points taken off Arsenal. However for a manager/side famed for making things so difficult for sides your away record from what I can see was (and again, no offence) woeful. Now most managers will naturally have a poor record away at the big 4 but his seems particularly bad with a team that normally keeps things so tight regularly shipping 3+ goals a game. Is it a case that his style simply didn't work against those sides away from home and he refused to try to adapt it, or was there a feeling amongst you guys he didn't believe his sides could win these games? Watch out for the bus stop in front of your away goals! Lol Lol Good luck for the season, from an ironic point of view it would be pretty funny to see you come to the Hawthorns, dominate possession and then us score from a set piece. It seems a decent number of our fans (although not all) now reckon they always rated Pulis and never liked Mowbrays tippy tappy stuff in the first place :-) Is it true you've renamed your ground now to The Hoofthorns? Lol Lol I hope you stop up as always enjoy a day out at the Baggies
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Post by ohbottom on Jan 29, 2015 11:43:49 GMT
Is his style as bad as is made out? Away from home, usually yes. 2010-11 was IMHO his best year. We played direct, true, but with 2 flying wingers aiming to get forward quickly and get the early ball into the box it was exciting to watch. I'd much rather watch that than Man City taking 100 passes to get it out of their own half. Or Mowbray's West Brom for that matter. Will he ever look to progress a team? I think he wanted to with us, but from our 2011 cup-final season he spent a lot of money and went backwards, style-wise. We were still solid enough defensively, but my god it was turgid stuff. And as others have said, he genuinely doesn't seem to know what to do with flair players. Will we end up with 4 centre backs in defence? Yes. Don't be surprised if they're in MF or on the wing too Will he sign/trust foreign players? Only from countries that speak English, or players who have been in the PL for a few years. Did Pulis 'throw' away games against certain sides? Valencia aside I don't think he "threw" games, but you will undoubtedly hear him refer to big clubs away as "bonus games". He'll go there aiming for 0-0, nicking a goal on the break would be a bonus. He even used to all out defend a 1 goal deficit. He'll almost certainly keep you up, and it would be no surprise if you break your Stoke "jinx" with him at the helm. Hopefully it won't be in the FA cup
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Post by trickydicky73 on Jan 29, 2015 11:48:27 GMT
this HAS to be a WUM rather than a genuine fan of another club..... is "Did he ever throw games against certain sides" the kind of normal thing you'd usually ask about any manager or simply a way of getting everyone arguing about Valencia????? my suggestion would be shitbin! EDIT: in fact EVERY one of his questions are specific things that people on here have singled out as reasons to abuse Pulis in the past and NOt the kind of things anyone would ever normally worry about in their new manager....so obviously and transparently a troll, how can no-one else spot this??? I thought the same by how the questions were worded. Their knowledge of us sounded a bit too good to be from an opposing team.
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Post by RAF on Jan 29, 2015 11:54:00 GMT
God yeah, forget about young players. I wouldn't be surprised to see him pie Berahino off at the first opportunity. Anyone below 25 is often a "kiddie". With a few exceptions. Having said that I fucking love the bloke for putting my team on the map and I'd happily buy him a pint if ever the opportunity arose. He's a cracking manager for clubs like you/us and you will not go down with him in charge. Meant to ask about academies. Every club likes to see a youngster come through the ranks, for years at Albion we criticised managers for not giving youngsters a chance, and then in fairness it turned out none of them were good enough - I think it's been a similar situation with Stoke, with Shotton being the only one to make a half decent career elsewhere so far? So it could (I'm hoping anyway) be argued he didnt play them because they weren't good enough rather than just young? The problem is touch wood our academy looks to have some exceptional talents coming through. Obviously Berahino is the main one, Nabi looks like the next talent to make the first team and maybe Daniels at some point next year. Below that the players aged around 14/15/16 are meant to be up there with any other academy in the country. Obviously anything can happen between the age of 14 and making it and even 16 to pro is a big leap but would you feel it's fair to say these players chances of making it with us have reduced under Pulis? We have also been linked with Demarai Gray from Blues, young exciting 18 year old winger for around £4m. Again may be wrong but I just dont see this as the type of signing Pulis makes when he could sign Matt Jarvis to do a solid job instead (I wouldn't actually mind Jarvis signing for the record) When Pulis was first at the club he tried to have the academy shut down so he could get more money to spend on players, fortunately one of our directors Phil Rawlins kept it alive. On the second time of asking where our club seriously invested in a first class academy with all the mode cons a few years ago he was moaning his bag off about it saying that 'Front of House' needed the money. This was after the 80-100 (which ever figure you choose to believe) million had already been afforded to him. I reckon any decent academy needs a good 5-10 years before it starts seeing the fruition of it's investment, thus no youth being good enough. Pulis is only interested in the here and the now and as a manager who traditionally doesn't stay very long at a club with Stoke being the exception I suppose I can understand his thinking to a degree, I just don't respect it. H
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Post by okeydokeystokie2 on Jan 29, 2015 11:56:49 GMT
As you will see he divides opinion.
I am grateful to him and Peter Coates for bringing the glory back to Stoke City. As a kid I thought we would always be in the first division, but most of my adult life has seen my football club in the second and third tier of English football.
Pulis changed that spectacularly: from surviving relegation from the Championship against the odds, to a truly unbelievable promotion to The Premier League, then the absolute miracle of keeping us there.
I'm not sure whether Irvine would have kept you up. Confidence was low and you were on a downward spiral. Pulis will keep you up and stabilise the club around the middle of the table. Given that he will only be there for 2 or 3 seasons at the absolute most, this looks like quite a smart move from Peace.
Like all managers, as you say, good and bad signings. Spectacular at the low end of the budget with the Dog's Home players (Matt Jarvis for £2 or £3 million wouldn't surprise me), and the ones that failed for big money looked on paper, to be perfect for Stoke City. I thought Kitson and Palacios would be a great fit - wrong. Jones and Tuncay made a contribution, and I personally think Crouch has been a good signing.
As others have said, when it clicked, his direct style was exciting to watch. It was as he broadened the squad and tried to be a little more sophisticated that it became difficult. I remember watching your lot at the Brit with John Carew up front for Stoke, and we just kept knocking it long to him to chants of "Hooooof" from the away support. Not a great spectacle.
I have learnt that TP probably can only take a club so far. The Pulis years were great fun and he put Stoke City back on the map, but even as a huge Pulis supporter, the team, the squad, the style of football has developed considerably in a relatively short time under MH. The fact that I genuinely believe that Stoke City can be a top 8 side was something I never felt under Pulis.
Like all things, pros and cons, but the pros outweigh the cons for you right now. And his record against you lot wasn't too shabby! He'll make you way more solid, and Anichebe behind a marauding Berahino is tailor made for his attacking blueprint.
Good Luck. A lot of us will be watching your results now. West Bromwich Albion is easily my favourite other Midlands Club, and I think we'll be 1 and 2 for the Midlands for a while. (You'll be 2 of course!) You're similar to us, not dick head supporters and not Wolves or Blues.
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Post by albion1 on Jan 29, 2015 12:10:26 GMT
It's simple really: He will keep you up every year, but fans will become alienated when you appear to be defending defeats (my breaking point was a one nil defeat at home to West Ham, where he used all three subs to bring on a more defensive player). The only real question is how long will it take for the vocal minority (seems a while since I last heard that phrase) to become the unignorable majority? I think the only gripe we have is we were slagged off non stop about our style, then after deciding after a patient near decade it was time to move on we were called ungrateful. I can't see the fans at West Brom tolerating him for as long simply because staying up in the premier league isn't a new experience for you. Think that's more the media with the ungrateful comment. We had similar when Clarke was sacked, they genuinely couldn't seem to believe it even though we had just achieved the lowest points in a calendar year in the clubs entire history. To listen to Lawrenson and Savage go on about it you would think we sacked immediately after we finished 8th because we thought we should have finished 6th. Your last sentence sums it up for me. We had Megson who is pretty similar to Pulis is many ways (Megson a poorer version) but he was loved for what he did for us at the time. However he couldn't take us any further and the time had come for him to go. But our first few years in the prem we loved, even playing poor football and getting relegated each time so to stay up as well..... we were happy enough playing shit and getting relegated. But there's only 2 or 3 seasons of that before paying £50 to watch you get beat 3-0 again at Chelsea or Utd and having 2 shots in the process remains fun. We're already past that point now and whilst this season survival above all else will be tolerated by most I think even by the start of next many will be looking for something more progressive. Honestly I was hoping for some more positive replies along the line of 'the footballs direct but not as bad as the media would make out.' I think any fan wants to watch 'good' football but that's not just a Barca/Arsenal/Mowbray possession style. There's nothing wrong with playing a more direct style and there's many different ways of entertaining, but I've not read much that convinces me Pulis will bring little more than nine 6 foot + men hoofing the ball up to a target man with a couple of wingers chucked in and without the novelty factor thrown in were basically you guys in his last season but without any of the goodwill he banked himself with his previous achievements.
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Post by KevinWhimper on Jan 29, 2015 12:17:59 GMT
It's simple really: He will keep you up every year, but fans will become alienated when you appear to be defending defeats (my breaking point was a one nil defeat at home to West Ham, where he used all three subs to bring on a more defensive player). The only real question is how long will it take for the vocal minority (seems a while since I last heard that phrase) to become the unignorable majority? I think the only gripe we have is we were slagged off non stop about our style, then after deciding after a patient near decade it was time to move on we were called ungrateful. I can't see the fans at West Brom tolerating him for as long simply because staying up in the premier league isn't a new experience for you. Think that's more the media with the ungrateful comment. We had similar when Clarke was sacked, they genuinely couldn't seem to believe it even though we had just achieved the lowest points in a calendar year in the clubs entire history. To listen to Lawrenson and Savage go on about it you would think we sacked immediately after we finished 8th because we thought we should have finished 6th. Your last sentence sums it up for me. We had Megson who is pretty similar to Pulis is many ways (Megson a poorer version) but he was loved for what he did for us at the time. However he couldn't take us any further and the time had come for him to go. But our first few years in the prem we loved, even playing poor football and getting relegated each time so to stay up as well..... we were happy enough playing shit and getting relegated. But there's only 2 or 3 seasons of that before paying £50 to watch you get beat 3-0 again at Chelsea or Utd and having 2 shots in the process remains fun. We're already past that point now and whilst this season survival above all else will be tolerated by most I think even by the start of next many will be looking for something more progressive. Honestly I was hoping for some more positive replies along the line of 'the footballs direct but not as bad as the media would make out.' I think any fan wants to watch 'good' football but that's not just a Barca/Arsenal/Mowbray possession style. There's nothing wrong with playing a more direct style and there's many different ways of entertaining, but I've not read much that convinces me Pulis will bring little more than nine 6 foot + men hoofing the ball up to a target man with a couple of wingers chucked in and without the novelty factor thrown in were basically you guys in his last season but without any of the goodwill he banked himself with his previous achievements. I think it depends on what players you have at your disposal. Last year I really enjoyed watching Palace under Tony, but they had good zippy wingers who got good service into Chamakh (who Tony got the best out of)
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Post by Caerwrangonpotter on Jan 29, 2015 12:18:06 GMT
He will also bring in record receipts in the Albion Club shop through wearing the merchandise on match days. Seriously though, If he keeps you up (and I think he will) then the fans will be happy (but not all might show it), that chairman of yours will say "told you so" (until some fallout occurs when Tone wants to buy anyone over £8 million, and he resigns) & it will mean 2 guaranteed dreadful games against us next season with maybe 1 goal in it, and the likes of Central News/Express & Star/Evening Sentinel having a love fest over his "style" In Pulis We Trusted...In Hughes we progress
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Post by chiefdelilah on Jan 29, 2015 12:21:55 GMT
It's simple really: He will keep you up every year, but fans will become alienated when you appear to be defending defeats (my breaking point was a one nil defeat at home to West Ham, where he used all three subs to bring on a more defensive player). The only real question is how long will it take for the vocal minority (seems a while since I last heard that phrase) to become the unignorable majority? I think the only gripe we have is we were slagged off non stop about our style, then after deciding after a patient near decade it was time to move on we were called ungrateful. I can't see the fans at West Brom tolerating him for as long simply because staying up in the premier league isn't a new experience for you. Think that's more the media with the ungrateful comment. We had similar when Clarke was sacked, they genuinely couldn't seem to believe it even though we had just achieved the lowest points in a calendar year in the clubs entire history. To listen to Lawrenson and Savage go on about it you would think we sacked immediately after we finished 8th because we thought we should have finished 6th. Your last sentence sums it up for me. We had Megson who is pretty similar to Pulis is many ways (Megson a poorer version) but he was loved for what he did for us at the time. However he couldn't take us any further and the time had come for him to go. But our first few years in the prem we loved, even playing poor football and getting relegated each time so to stay up as well..... we were happy enough playing shit and getting relegated. But there's only 2 or 3 seasons of that before paying £50 to watch you get beat 3-0 again at Chelsea or Utd and having 2 shots in the process remains fun. We're already past that point now and whilst this season survival above all else will be tolerated by most I think even by the start of next many will be looking for something more progressive. Honestly I was hoping for some more positive replies along the line of 'the footballs direct but not as bad as the media would make out.' I think any fan wants to watch 'good' football but that's not just a Barca/Arsenal/Mowbray possession style. There's nothing wrong with playing a more direct style and there's many different ways of entertaining, but I've not read much that convinces me Pulis will bring little more than nine 6 foot + men hoofing the ball up to a target man with a couple of wingers chucked in and without the novelty factor thrown in were basically you guys in his last season but without any of the goodwill he banked himself with his previous achievements. It comes down to personal taste but for me, when it was good, it was as good as anything I've watched as a Stoke fan. When we had two positive, creative wingers (Etherington/Lawrence, Etherington/Pennant) with a big man behind the special talent that was Ricardo Fuller it was great. People sneered at the long throw but I adored it, I was genuinely excited every time Rory wound one up, and the set piece threat was great too. When we hit form en route to the cup final we mixed up the direct stuff with some genuinely good, positive football and scored some wonderful goals. If Pulis can allow himself the freedom to do that and not shit himself, then there won't be a lot to complain about. He can never quite let that fear go though, and every time we had that kind of golden breakthrough, he ultimately, unfathomably took steps to quash it and return to something more basic and reductive. The good times were amazing though.
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Post by ruts66 on Jan 29, 2015 12:26:02 GMT
I think it was a very wise decision by WBA for the short term.
Ongoing, it depends on TP's personal ambition.
Every year there's going to be Chairmen willing to bring in Tony 'Red Adair' Pulis on very good money so he's under no real pressure to change his ways.
He'll keep you up, he'll keep the money coming in and, ultimately, he'll most likely bore you to death if he hasn't already fallen out with the club's owners.
Enjoy...
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Post by Stafford-Stokie on Jan 29, 2015 12:26:27 GMT
this HAS to be a WUM rather than a genuine fan of another club..... is "Did he ever throw games against certain sides" the kind of normal thing you'd usually ask about any manager or simply a way of getting everyone arguing about Valencia????? my suggestion would be shitbin! EDIT: in fact EVERY one of his questions are specific things that people on here have singled out as reasons to abuse Pulis in the past and NOt the kind of things anyone would ever normally worry about in their new manager....so obviously and transparently a troll, how can no-one else spot this??? This is why I told him to make up his own mind.
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Post by nik80 on Jan 29, 2015 12:31:05 GMT
I respect TP to the upmost for what he did for our club but said to the old man the other day, what he did at Palace last season wasn't that tough. He had some good footballers there. Footballers that wouldn't necessarily be likened to his style of play. Given time, he woulda changed things to be a more 'Pulis' style of footy. You can't deny the job he did was great BUT at the Albion he WILL try to give them a more 'Pulis style' backbone, and that's probably what they need. I don't think the Albion have got the personnel that Palace had at his disposal and therefore I'd imagine Pulis' WBA will resemble more Pulis' Stoke than that Palace team. I dare say he'll love having players like Chris Brunt and Jim Morrison and will get the most out of them again. As for fullbacks, no; Tony Pulis doesn't know what a fullback is At its ferocious best, not many of us can deny we bloody loved stuffing teams at home and during the second season and leading up to the cup final we were playing some great stuff IMO. Sadly though that stuff seemed unsustainable and it didn't last; we became a much softer outfit in his last two seasons, yet we seemed to keep this thuggish stereotype, which even at our toughest was probably a bit harsh. The football was generally piss poor and worse still we were becoming a pushover. Hated it ???? Sad cos as I say, have a lot of time for TP.
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Post by upthefud on Jan 29, 2015 12:37:28 GMT
It's simple really: He will keep you up every year, but fans will become alienated when you appear to be defending defeats (my breaking point was a one nil defeat at home to West Ham, where he used all three subs to bring on a more defensive player). The only real question is how long will it take for the vocal minority (seems a while since I last heard that phrase) to become the unignorable majority? I think the only gripe we have is we were slagged off non stop about our style, then after deciding after a patient near decade it was time to move on we were called ungrateful. I can't see the fans at West Brom tolerating him for as long simply because staying up in the premier league isn't a new experience for you. Think that's more the media with the ungrateful comment. We had similar when Clarke was sacked, they genuinely couldn't seem to believe it even though we had just achieved the lowest points in a calendar year in the clubs entire history. To listen to Lawrenson and Savage go on about it you would think we sacked immediately after we finished 8th because we thought we should have finished 6th. Your last sentence sums it up for me. We had Megson who is pretty similar to Pulis is many ways (Megson a poorer version) but he was loved for what he did for us at the time. However he couldn't take us any further and the time had come for him to go. But our first few years in the prem we loved, even playing poor football and getting relegated each time so to stay up as well..... we were happy enough playing shit and getting relegated. But there's only 2 or 3 seasons of that before paying £50 to watch you get beat 3-0 again at Chelsea or Utd and having 2 shots in the process remains fun. We're already past that point now and whilst this season survival above all else will be tolerated by most I think even by the start of next many will be looking for something more progressive. Honestly I was hoping for some more positive replies along the line of 'the footballs direct but not as bad as the media would make out.' I think any fan wants to watch 'good' football but that's not just a Barca/Arsenal/Mowbray possession style. There's nothing wrong with playing a more direct style and there's many different ways of entertaining, but I've not read much that convinces me Pulis will bring little more than nine 6 foot + men hoofing the ball up to a target man with a couple of wingers chucked in and without the novelty factor thrown in were basically you guys in his last season but without any of the goodwill he banked himself with his previous achievements. I'm a massive TP fan. He put us back on the footballing map and signed players who regardless of form would give 110% for the stripes every time they played. After years of bumming about in League One with players who were wank and couldn't give two shits about the club his approach was exactly what we needed. The football isn't as bad as is being portrayed, the media hated us because we proved them wrong. Let's not forget the "Stoke will be worse than Derby comments." The fact that after March in our first season we were never in a proper dogfight under him is testimony to just how well he did. He's a top class manager even if this board doesn't give him the recognition he deserves because of a stale season which ultimately resulted in him losing his job. The thing with TP is at home those 3-0 home defeats never happened, I can only think of maybe two or three home games in which we didn't put up a strong fight.
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Post by PotterLog on Jan 29, 2015 12:43:28 GMT
Sorry to see the Bojan news, seems a likeable guy and couldn't of happened at a worse time for him with the football he had been playing. Also seen a suggestion of Sinclair on this board. From what we saw of him last year you would be better bringing Trevor Sinclair out of retirement. One of the most disappointing signings we have made in along time, offered absolutely nothing and barely made the squad let alone starting 11 for the second half of the season. By all accounts just couldn't be bothered any more. Anyway, Pulis is already splitting a lot of us fans. Nobody really doubts that when it comes to purely keeping us up this year he was the best option available so I'm not looking for input on the results side of his management, but there's a few other things that I assume you guys will know about him more than anyone else. Is his style as bad as is made out? Honestly, without wishing to cause offence, I'm one of those you could probably label in the rather 'rather get relegated that watch that every week' camp. I have no problem with what he did with you in your first season or 2 in the PL, and if someone had done that with us when we first came up I would have felt the same. But after the novelty of being in the PL wore off did the football remain as bad to watch? Will he ever look to progress a team? Again one of the main arguments is that ideally Pulis will come in, keep us up by any means and then progress us in the summer to a better style of play. I never saw any of this at Stoke (feel free to correct me) and your results, points tally's, finishing positions, goals score etc all seems to suggest things stayed pretty much the same. How good/bad is his transfer record? When we had Dan Ashworth in charge our transfer policy was probably the main reason for our success. Since he left for the FA our record has been appalling so in this regard it can't get much worse I suppose. I think the set up now is probably similar to yours when Pulis was there, with a Director of Football in similar in place (did you guys have Rudge in that role?) but in reality Pulis calls the shots. I know every manager has good/bad signings and Pulis seems to have done much better with his lower cost buys than his big money deals. In short if Pulis came back to Stoke woudl you rather him or a DoF or similar in charge of bringing players in? Will we end up with 4 centre backs in defence? We've already seen Lescott shifted to left back last week and another CB bought in. Wisdom supposedly is a centre back although he always played right back or Liverpool and has played there all season for us for I'll let that slide for now. I seem to remember you guys crying out for proper full backs for a few years and not getting them. Pocognoli was one of our few decent summer signings and in many fans views was one of our better players before Christmas. Since Pulis came in he cant get a look in either in league or cup games with Lescott and Chris Baird preffered instead of him. Can we expect more of this? Will he sign/trust foreign players? Or at least foreign players who come from abroad, rather than someone who had already been playing in the PL for a few years. There's a view that he's come in and without even looking like players like Varela, Blanco, Gamboa, Pocognoli has decided they dont fit. You could argue he went with the previous coaching teams views on them but they left as well so I would assume everyone had a blank slate. All the players we have been linked with are either British or have played in the PL before. Is there much point in his having a foreign scouting department with Pulis here? Did Pulis 'throw' away games against certain sides? His record against the traditional top sides seemed acceptable at home, although mainly down to the points taken off Arsenal. However for a manager/side famed for making things so difficult for sides your away record from what I can see was (and again, no offence) woeful. Now most managers will naturally have a poor record away at the big 4 but his seems particularly bad with a team that normally keeps things so tight regularly shipping 3+ goals a game. Is it a case that his style simply didn't work against those sides away from home and he refused to try to adapt it, or was there a feeling amongst you guys he didn't believe his sides could win these games? Good luck for the season, from an ironic point of view it would be pretty funny to see you come to the Hawthorns, dominate possession and then us score from a set piece. It seems a decent number of our fans (although not all) now reckon they always rated Pulis and never liked Mowbrays tippy tappy stuff in the first place :-) Honestly, just reading that brought back so many nightmares, it made me shudder. I love TP, I really do. But I am so fucking glad he's not our manager any more.
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Post by basingstokie on Jan 29, 2015 12:44:23 GMT
He'll keep you up, but the football will generally be awful.
He's got a very good eye for a talented goalie and given 500k - 1m his transfer record is top notch. Give him 3m + and you'll probably end up with something worse than the 500k buys.
Abroad - no chance. Suspect he goes to Weymouth on his holidays.
Youth Scheme - no chance. He publicly said 'front of house mustn't suffer' when it was suggested we invested in academy etc. he has no vision of how the academy can produce great players cheaply.
Parking the bus - potentially viable against top sides, but I've seen us do it against Fulham and Birmingham. In Pulis's mind I'd you are 1-0 down it is better to hold that and hope rather than look for a goal. he starts every game with the mentality that we currently have a point and we will defend that to the death.
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Post by PotterLog on Jan 29, 2015 12:46:34 GMT
this HAS to be a WUM rather than a genuine fan of another club..... is "Did he ever throw games against certain sides" the kind of normal thing you'd usually ask about any manager or simply a way of getting everyone arguing about Valencia????? my suggestion would be shitbin! EDIT: in fact EVERY one of his questions are specific things that people on here have singled out as reasons to abuse Pulis in the past and NOt the kind of things anyone would ever normally worry about in their new manager....so obviously and transparently a troll, how can no-one else spot this??? Or maybe he's just on-point and informed?
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Post by Deleted on Jan 29, 2015 12:52:09 GMT
this HAS to be a WUM rather than a genuine fan of another club..... is "Did he ever throw games against certain sides" the kind of normal thing you'd usually ask about any manager or simply a way of getting everyone arguing about Valencia????? my suggestion would be shitbin! EDIT: in fact EVERY one of his questions are specific things that people on here have singled out as reasons to abuse Pulis in the past and NOt the kind of things anyone would ever normally worry about in their new manager....so obviously and transparently a troll, how can no-one else spot this??? Or maybe he's just on-point and informed? and isn't interested in any other aspects of his managerial ability other than the specific ones that inevitably start arguments on here?
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Post by tijuanabrass on Jan 29, 2015 12:52:21 GMT
Expect to be waiting late into the transfer window for them apples to drop. If they don't drop never fear. Tone always gets his man.
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Post by albion1 on Jan 29, 2015 12:57:29 GMT
Or maybe he's just on-point and informed? and isn't interested in any other aspects of his managerial ability other than the specific ones that inevitably start arguments on here? The thing is I don't need to be told that he will most likely keep us, that he can organise a defence or that he favours a club tracksuit with matching cap. If you have anything else you feel is relevant about him that I've missed out please feel free to share
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Post by Deleted on Jan 29, 2015 12:59:27 GMT
After having a Season Ticket since 1985, I wasn't going to renew after Pulis' last season in charge, so mind-numbing had it become. Mainly the football, but also the Walking With Dinosaurs approach to all else.
I could, but I don't think I need to, comment any further.....
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Post by sufolkstokie on Jan 29, 2015 13:00:28 GMT
Sooner or later he will bring what you see on this thread - lots of bickering between fans
He does split opinion, does our Tone
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Post by chopperscfc on Jan 29, 2015 13:01:11 GMT
Ill never forget the away performances, jesus christ. They were absolutely awful. Ill never forget going Sunderland on a Sunday at 4pm after i think it was the kiev away game. Worst away game ive ever been to. He literally played 4-5-1, with crouchie up top on his own which was appalling. Thats when i had enough because we got stuffed 4-0 and literally had no shots on goal.
We had some great time no doubt, clean sheets, FA cup final, solid team, promotion i couldnt thank him more but jesus it wore on with away games and when the home fans that didnt realise how poor we were away saw it was creeping in at home game towards the end, they had enough too.
The sad thing now aswell mate is Pulis argues with his own shadow. He falls out with the best players. Eg. Beattie, Tuncay etc......
He plays the best player in the most awkward positions. eg Tuncay left wing, Huth right back etc...
The worrying thing for you lot is i saw at the Birmingham game last weekend he played LESCOTT at LEFT BACK. Also i watched you away at Everton and reminded myself how glad i am to have an attacking minded manager at the club now instead of banging it up as far as we could and literally praying for a single goal.
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Post by coates on Jan 29, 2015 13:03:59 GMT
Watch this thread grow to about 20.pages.
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Post by davejohnno1 on Jan 29, 2015 13:08:15 GMT
Brilliant post from a Baggie. Should light the fireworks on here.
All I will add, as my contribution is an answer to the opening question really. "Did the football remain as bad to watch". The answer is that in our first 3 seasons in the Premier League, at times our football was brilliant to watch and was never as bad as was painted out by some, deluded Baggies included.
After those first 3 years, when he started spending substantial sums of money of supposed top class players (think Palacios, Adam, Crouch, Woodgate, Owen, Upson etc) THE FOOTBALL GOT WORSE.
Therein lay the problem. Will it get better? I doubt it very much. Pulis is what he is and it will bore the life out of you the longer he is there. You can almost guarantee it.
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