BREAKING NEWS : Tony Pulis reveals how Sir Alex Ferguson’s advice made Stoke City ‘light up’

Tony Pulis has revealed Sir Alex Ferguson’s advice to him during Stoke City’s promotion to the Premier League, which helped the club stay in the top flight for a decade. This information was reported by StokeonTrentLive.

Stoke were odds-on favourites to make a quick return to the Championship after winning automatic promotion in May 2008, and their prospects didn’t improve when Sir Alex said: “Tony, I’ve seen your team, I think you’re going to struggle!”

However, the famous Manchester United manager came up with some vital advice for Pulis, who was ready to embark on his

first season as a top-flight boss. He revealed the chat while a guest on the William Hill and Footy Accumulators’ podcast, No Tippy Tappy Football.

 

“When we got promoted at Stoke, I called Sir Alex Ferguson up. He told me, ‘Your best chance is making the Britannia a place no-one wants to go. If any of the top teams go there and praise you, you’re not doing it right’.
‘If you’ve got the best players in the world, then building from the back is fine, but the majority of teams don’t. The bottom line is football is about winning and if you don’t win football matches you aren’t going to be in the job very long. You need to find out what your strengths are and play to them. Don’t worry about what others do’.

Pulis added: “I never forgot what he said, and as a result we narrowed the pitch in, grew the grass and brought Rory Delap into play. We found a way to win and it worked.

“I don’t think I’ve ever been at a football stadium where the crowd and team were so together – we used to play the top teams and the place used to light up.”

The Rory Delap long throw became a vital weapon for Stoke during their early years in the Premier League, and most opponents struggled to counter it.

Pulis continued: “The story about Rory is that we got promoted and I had no idea he had a long throw. Right at the start of the season, the lads were betting on who could throw it the farthest, and Rory threw it off the field! He was a javelin thrower in school, and we spent a lot of time working.

on him throwing the ball flat to the near post. It was great for us.”