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Post by actongatestokie on Apr 9, 2009 6:53:41 GMT
Tony Pulis's first spell in charge was exactly what you'd expect from that type of manager given the backing he got from his employer.
He's a functional manager who plays a rigid system. He will get results over a season long period and is a safe pair of hands. The football you get in return can be good on a good day, but dire on a bad day. All of that is relative to what money you give him to spend. Looking back to his first spell, if anyone would have asked me if we would ever have a right midfielder as joint top scorer, key assist maker and statistically the best player of any position in the division in a Tony Pulis team I would have laughed my socks off. I guess, with hindsight, that is what you get when you give him 500k to buy one, rather than the square root of FA to loan a "kiddy" from Middlesbrough reserves or take an ageing ex Vale has been before he departed to the States for his last pay cheque.
When a manager signs a player it is up to him to do his homework and check and recheck that he will be fit for purpose (yes yes Kitson). Likewise, a chairman is expected to do the same for his manager. When Pulis was appointed, a quick check through his history and the stats would have told you he is a manager who favours a defensive game - given his one success to that date was gaining Gillingham promotion from the basement division (an achievement in itself I may add) with an almost record goals for low. His history also presented evidence that more goals and more exciting scorelines were achievable with a decent amount spent in the division above with Gillingham.
Managers were around at that time who could have played a more expansive game on a shoestring - Mike Newell (before he became anti agents), Gary Johnson at Yeovil and Brian Laws at Scunthorpe. The chairman and board of directors at that time went down the road of appointing a functional manager with a history of boring football with nothing to spend and gave him the tools to play a boring game - nothing.
The first two seasons in his second spell were light years ahead of that in comparison.
Complaining about his first spell in charge is like a manager signing a striker and giving him no service, then moaning like a "drain" that he is'nt scoring goals - pointless, a bit like this argument, since the manager has proven his critics wrong twice already (keeping us up first time round when many said we would be relegated and getting us into the Premiership when almost everyone said his game was incapable of delivering that). He's now on the verge of doing it three times by keeping us up.
Hopefully that will be the final nail in this very long and almost rotten coffin.
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Post by mcf on Apr 9, 2009 8:06:05 GMT
It's not about being right as much as laughing at the wankstains that got it so horribly wrong.
Very, very wrong.
Given how they claimed the higher ground on the basis that we couldn't possibly care for our club if we wanted Pulis back then I'm afraid they will just have to suck it up.
Watching them flap around trying to justify themselves is simply a greater pisser.
The Rimmers have to enjoy it why they can because one thing is for certain, whether its in a month or years from now, the wankstains will bleat and moan about him when these better times do end.
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Post by cousindupree on Apr 9, 2009 8:24:06 GMT
The Binary season was just about the most depressing period of football that i can remember in nearly 40 years of watching Stoke.I was sitting in the stand at loftus rd watching qpr beat us 1-0. It was the eigth time I had made the journey from Dubai to watch Stoke that season. I had not seen Stoke score a single goal in any of those 8 games.The teams performance at qpr was so inept I was certainly at the closest point to saying to myself that it was time to take a break from watching my beloved Stoke as it was torture. So its hard to forget who was responsible for that feeling. But you have to hand it to TP he did what many including myself didnt think possible and got us promoted. keeping us up which is an even harder task will rightly put him in the Legend class behind Waddo. I like TP as a man having chatted to him at length but his football preferences dont match mine. TP will choose effort hardwork and organisation over pace skill and flair and that will always sit uneasy with me. But it seems I will have to accept this for some years to come. But ultimately he has put us back where we belong and I will be eternally grateful. Top man TP
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Post by RAF on Apr 9, 2009 8:40:34 GMT
I don't know whether you missed a comma out there or are suggesting that I was Hudson. Firstly I am, never was and never will be him. Secondly I never had anything to do with his ridiculous red card campaign. Thirdly you are incorrect, I have apologised publicly on here for getting it wrong with Pulis. That doesn't mean he is beyond any criticism. Anyone who suggests that I would like Stoke to lose to see him go is mentally retarded. I'm more than big enough to admit I got it well wrong with not just TP but the return of Coates aswell. That's life, I've got over it, so should you.
H
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Post by mcf on Apr 9, 2009 8:42:44 GMT
cousindupree
There is no way on earth that the binary season was the most depressing in the last 40 years.
It was no where near as bad as any of the relegation seasons for a start, nor the many games we endured in the latter parts of the Brian Little season.
I'll admit there were plenty of shit games, but the irritation came more from the fact that many people expected better and rightly so.
The problem really stemmed from the fact that too many people gave up on him from that point onwards.
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Post by cousindupree on Apr 9, 2009 8:51:32 GMT
mcf....its a personal view. Dubai is a 7 hour flight away and the ticket costs on average 400 of my hard earned pounds. It was a major effort financially to make the games. To not see Stoke score a single goal depressed the shit outta me. I guess if I had been in the UK and seen more of the matches that season then perhaps my view may change. You are right though about how it tainted my view of TP. I have got over it now!
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Post by sheikhmomo on Apr 9, 2009 9:36:04 GMT
It is a personal view cdp. In 2005/2006 season under Boskamp, I went to 12 home matches, saw us win once, score 9 goals and let in 23, yet some daft fuckers still adore the goon, describe him as a breath of fresh air and continue to tell me he played good football.
I remembered the binary season with fondness after that bag of wank.
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Post by RAF on Apr 9, 2009 9:49:13 GMT
On the flip side I saw us win 10 times away from home , with only three other teams winning more than us Reading, Sheff Utd and Watford that season. Incidentally the three teams that got promoted. It's swings and roundabouts Momo, you were unlucky the games that you went to . I also saw us win 7 times and draw 5 that season at home. It was certainly no binary season, but ultimately only as effective.
H
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Post by sheikhmomo on Apr 9, 2009 9:58:09 GMT
I saw us win 5 times away RAF but I'm not going to mention that as it starts to negate my point
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Post by RAF on Apr 9, 2009 9:59:34 GMT
;D Well I'll just pretend that you didn't see those 5 games away to keep your point valid. H
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Post by mcf on Apr 9, 2009 10:01:26 GMT
less effective and a lot more money if the truth be told RAF. not particularly Boskamp's fault though, more the Icelandics. Many people struggle to get over it though cousindupree as you can clearly see from this thread
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Post by RAF on Apr 9, 2009 10:20:56 GMT
The 18 more goals scored probably helped cushion that it was no better than the binary season Merk. You know the binary season that you hated him for? H
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Post by winger on Apr 9, 2009 10:29:14 GMT
Momo thinks Russell Brand is a National Treasure by the way. Not only does that rather negate any views he has to the dustbin of derision, but beyond this I see him in my mind's eye dressed in a Stoke shirt, a tutu, and a feather boa.
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Post by sheikhmomo on Apr 9, 2009 10:45:45 GMT
Says the man who strides around his Norfolk Estate like this
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Post by mcf on Apr 9, 2009 10:47:41 GMT
I didn't hate him for that. I hated his 5 2 3 bollox. He gave some blag about not having the players for 442. He soon changed though.
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Post by winger on Apr 9, 2009 10:49:37 GMT
There's nothing wrong with that outfit, it's sharp.
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Post by OldStokie on Apr 9, 2009 10:59:07 GMT
He's more like this, Victor. OS.
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Post by OldStokie on Apr 9, 2009 11:01:03 GMT
I don't know what he sees in me as a pal. Opposites? OS.
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Post by jimmygscfc on Apr 9, 2009 11:12:12 GMT
It's a little like Ralph and Ted's relationship in The Fast Show, with the same undercurrent of repressed homosexuality. Mick's Winger's bit of rough!!
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Post by OldStokie on Apr 9, 2009 11:18:47 GMT
I reckon you're right, Michael. He slips into my bedroom at night on the pretext that he wants to borrow a fag paper when we're away together and he can't wait to get into a crapper next to me when I need a dump. I have to make sure the glory holes are well and truly taped up. Hope you're well, my friend. There was a hue and cry out for you on here recently. I thought, perhaps, you were in Tuscany? Take care. M.
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Post by Bick on Apr 9, 2009 11:37:07 GMT
I am not Pulis's number one fan, but I would never go against him. He got a team promoted that nobody expected to have the slightest chance. Then he is doing a superb job of attempting to keep us up in the premier when even football experts had us down by christmas
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Post by sheikhmomo on Apr 9, 2009 12:00:12 GMT
I don't think any of us anticipated the thread heading in this direction with tales of a troubled, repressed author grooming an older man who is on the rebound from a big gay Dutch bear.
I sense a novel coming on.
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Post by OldStokie on Apr 9, 2009 12:09:46 GMT
Lateral threading, Victor. It happens a lot on here. I'm sure winger is taking this all in. His next book is called And She Laughed No More, Stoke City’s Premiership Adventure. Perhaps he should devote a few pages to characters on here. I would suggest this one for you. OS.
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Post by jimmygscfc on Apr 9, 2009 14:10:18 GMT
Hello Mick, hope you're well too. It was good to see Tony and Winger away at Villa recently, but disturbing to think that Foster may be turning his attention towards a younger Norcop!!!
The hue and cry was down to Leese panicking and buying another bloody ticket for the Pompey game when I already had one for him. Hope to catch up with you soon mate........will give you a shout next home game not counting Newcastle possibly.
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Post by winger on Apr 9, 2009 15:30:40 GMT
I'd be surprised if Momo's teeth are as good as that after all that rimming, OS.
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