|
|
Post by GerrysGonnaGetYa on Mar 4, 2008 22:39:17 GMT
Last Updated: Monday, 3 March 2008, 16:23 GMT
E-mail this to a friend Printable version
Championship chargers
By Paul Fletcher
Stoke's Tony Pulis (left) and Bristol City's Gary Johnson are desperate to manage in the Premier League
It is August 2008 and supporters of Stoke and Bristol City are feverishly anticipating their first fixtures as a Premier League club.
A pipedream? The hard facts of the Championship table suggest otherwise.
While many familiar faces - the likes of Watford, West Brom and Charlton - are hoping for a return to the top flight, it is the Robins and the Potters who occupy the top two slots bringing automatic promotion.
It is a state of affairs that has taken almost everyone by surprise, including the managers of the respective clubs.
Neither Bristol City's Gary Johnson nor Stoke's Tony Pulis started the season anticipating a sustained promotion challenge.
The biggest thing for a manager is knowing the product - and the product in football is players
But as the season moves into its final furlong, both clubs have serious ambitions of reaching the promised land.
Their stories are very different - as are their styles of play - yet there are undeniable similarities that help to explain why both clubs have managed to scale new heights.
Pulis is in his second spell at Stoke, having returned to the Britannia Stadium in June 2006.
His first lasted from November 2002 to June 2005 and was largely unremarkable, characterised by mid-table finishes and the direct style of play for which Pulis is known.
The long-ball tactics made Pulis unpopular with Stoke fans but the 50-year-old is quick to point out that he was working on a restricted budget.
"The club now is unrecognisable from when I took over for the first spell," Pulis told BBC Sport.
TONY PULIS MANAGERIAL CV
1992-94: Bournemouth
1995-99: Gillingham
1999-2000: Bristol City
2000: Portsmouth
2002-05: Stoke
2005-06: Plymouth
2006-: Stoke
"The budget was comparable with the bottom four teams in the division."
When Pulis returned, the Icelandic contingent that ran the club had left and Peter Coates was back as chairman.
Coates made some money available and Stoke finished eighth last season, missing out on the play-offs on the last day of the campaign.
The summer saw a number of key players such as Danny Higginbotham, Jonathan Fortune and Lee Hendrie leave the club.
It left Pulis with a significant problem as he set about building a new squad, with the difficulties that involves.
"The biggest thing for a manager - and this is something that I learned when I came into coaching with Harry Redknapp at Bournemouth - is knowing the product," Pulis explains. "And the product in football is players.
"There has been a big change of players here.
"You have got to really know what you want as a manager and put the right pegs in the right holes.
"You don't find out about players sat around the television. You have to be out and about, on the road, watching games. It takes a lot of time to analyse what is out there."
Pulis believes he has a good knowledge of players and signed the likes of Ryan Shawcross and Richard Cresswell during the summer, while Danny Pugh and Leon Cort arrived on loan early in the season.
All have excelled, with young defender Shawcross a particularly inspired signing. So much so that Pulis paid £1m to sign him permanently from Manchester United in January.
Pulis has a set of criteria when assessing whether to sign a player - with one firmly at the top of the list.
"The most important thing that I look for is the player's character, both on and off the pitch," he said. "To get the right mix in a dressing-room it takes all sorts."
You stand and fall by your philosophy and ours seem to be working
Pulis's diligence in researching the transfer market has paid spectacular dividends, with his team second in the Championship.
Furthermore, Pulis feels a key factor in explaining why Stoke have gone from a team challenging for a play-off place to one pushing for the Premier League is that goals have come from right through the team this season.
He also believes they have the right blend of players to cope with the particular challenges of Championship football.
"We have got a mixture, plenty of power and pace but some really good players in the likes of Ricardo Fuller, Liam Lawrence and Salif Diao," he said.
"It is about having enough to cope when you go into battle against the stronger teams and having enough to compete when playing the best footballing teams.
"We have taken four points off West Brom, scored four goals against them and only conceded one."
;D ;D ;D ;D ;D ;D ;D ;D
Is it just me or does TP get more likeable each time he's interviewed.
BRING ON BURNLEY!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
|
|
|
|
Post by trebor63 on Mar 4, 2008 22:47:48 GMT
His stock is rising amongst many Stoke fans, at last!
Many of the doubters have been / are being won over as his record in his second spell gets stronger and stronger. I guess we'd all do one or two things differently but I have to admit I can't think of any other manager (who we could realistically attract) who would do as good a job as TP!
The next three games are VERY difficult imo BUT if we come through them and are still within one or two points of the top two then the dream is on imo!
|
|
|
|
Post by vodkastoke on Mar 4, 2008 23:12:28 GMT
I still think he lacks the tactical ability to guide us to promotion.
|
|
