Survival instincts made Tony Pulis obvious choice for West Barberino Factory Outlet Prada Brom job
When West Bromwich Albion’s board weighed up the merits of appointing Tony Pulis or Tim Sherwood, it ultimately came down to 22 years of managerial experience and the realisation the Welshman represents the nearest thing there is to guaranteed Premier League survival.
Any reservations from outside about the style of football West Bromwich Albion may play, or Pulis’s approach to management and how that would work within a continental structure, were given short shrift by the decision-makers at The Hawthorns. West Brom need to stay up and Pulis, with his record Agatha Ruiz Dela Prada Messenger Bag of never being relegated, is better equipped than anyone to navigate a path away from the lower reaches of the table and deliver those colossal Premier League revenue streams.
Once Alan Irvine was sacked on Monday, after a run of seven defeats in Authentic Prada Handbags Uk nine matches, West Brom wasted no time in targeting Pulis. Among the club’s hierarchy there was an acceptance they had to act swiftly, not just to arrest the decline on the pitch but also Agatha Ruiz Dela Prada Dresses Uk to make sure the man who miraculously transformed Crystal Palace’s fortunes last season – the Premier League manager of the year no less – was offered the job before a rival club stepped in.
While much has been made of Pulis’s desire to have the Authentic Prada Bags Outlet Online final say on transfers, there is a degree of bemusement among senior figures at the club that the issue has become such a talking point. West Brom are adamant each head coach who has gone before Pulis, whether that be Tony Mowbray, Roberto Di Matteo, Roy Hodgson, Steve Clarke, Pepe Mel or Irvine, worked in exactly the same way. Players come and go but never without the head coach’s approval.
It is something about which Pulis sought reassurances from Jeremy Peace, West Brom’s chairman, perhaps concerned by Irvine revealing early on he had not seen several of the summer signings play. While Irvine’s admission surprised many, he also accepted that was the way it had to be in the short term – the Scot had previously been working at academy level, West Brom were left with only 13 outfield players in the summer and the only football to scout at that time was taking place in Brazil.
Pulis arrives in a very different set of Authentic Prada Wallet For Sale Philippines circumstances and brings with him a wealth of managerial and player knowledge. Authentic Prada Factory Outlet Online When it comes to identifying signings, he will work closely with Terry Burton, the technical director. The two have got on well in the past and Burton also knows Dave Kemp, Pulis’s assistant, from their time together at Wimbledon. Pulis will not get every player he asks for but he will not have anyone pushed on to him either. It has been reported that Pulis will make an approach for Peter Crouch, who he signed at Stoke in 2011, during the just opened transfer window.
As for the brand of football, it would be fair Authentic Prada Milano Handbags to say there was a time when West Brom supporters could not have imagined Pulis being in charge of their team. As Matthew Etherington, one of Pulis’s former players at Stoke, reflected on Twitter: “Strange old game, remember West Brom fans barraging when he [Pulis] was at Stoke: ‘Hoof ball’.”
Indeed a match report that appeared in West Brom’s programme in the 2007-08 season was absolutely scathing of Stoke under Pulis. “Stoke train with cannons rescued from local medieval ruins replica prada mens wallets,” read the article. “Footballs are loaded into them and fired into the distance for [Mamady] Sidibé to head and [Ricardo] Fuller to run after. It’s a game plan that squeezes the life out of what used to be known as football.”
How times, and opinions, change. Pulis’s stock could not be higher after his success at Selhurst Park. Palace were anchored to the foot of the table with four points when he was appointed in late November. By the time the season ended they were 11th – Palace had finished higher only twice in their history – after picking up 38 points from 26 games under Pulis.
Their tactics were brilliantly executed. Palace averaged only 34.5% possession – significantly less than anyone else – Amazon Uk Prada Shoes and only Cardiff and Norwich, both of whom were relegated, scored fewer goals. But Palace under Pulis were superb defensively (they kept 10 clean sheets in the league – only Manchester City, Chelsea and Arsenal had more), full of energy and wonderful exponents of the counterattack. Come the end of that campaign Selhurst Park was bouncing. Pulis had galvanised a club, never mind a team.
To revive West Brom in the same way Pulis will need some new players, in particular on the flanks, where there is a glaring lack of pace and penetration, and probably up front, depending on whether the former Stoke manager can extract any more from a misfiring strikeforce. Either way, it will be no surprise Authentic Prada Handbags For Cheap to see Pulis succeed. As Etherington succinctly put it on Twitter: “He will keep them up #getsresults.” Albion’s board arrived at the same conclusion.
