MICHAEL PEARLMAN SAYS: Tony Pulis can’t cry poverty at Stoke (From South Wales Argus)

MICHAEL PEARLMAN SAYS: Tony Pulis can’t cry poverty at Stoke

9:20am Tuesday 8th January 2013 in Sport

ANY long time reader of this column will know I am an enormous fan of Newport’s favourite footballing son, Tony Pulis.

I’m very much in the “what a load of rubbish,” camp when it comes to throwing lazy cliches at Stoke City in respect of their style of play.

He’s a fantastic manager, honest, bubbly, makes time for fans and media alike and represents his club with distinction, irrespective of being too old to wear a baseball cap.

Much like Sam Allardyce did with Bolton, Dave Whelan with Wigan and Alan Curbishley with Charlton before him, Pulis has established Stoke as a Premier League team when historically they have no right to be there.

But that’s all it is, history. Stoke are now a force in the Premier League and it’s about time Pulis publicly acknowledged that and stopped feeding lines about what a tiny club with so few resources Stoke are. They were, they aren’t now.

Did you know that on net spend for the previous five years, only Man City and Chelsea eclipse Stoke?

Or that they’ve had bigger net spends in recent seasons than Arsenal, Tottenham, Newcastle, Everton and even Manchester United?

What do they pay the likes of Michael Owen and Peter Crouch with at the Brittania, magic beans?

Stoke are a progressive, well run, living-within-their-means club who thanks to careful planning and a great fanbase are now established as one of the probably biggest dozen clubs in the entire country.

They are what so many outside of the PL aspire to be. So stop pleading poverty Tony, as you did after defeat at Man City.

Stoke are a big club, that’s now the simple truth and Pulis should embrace it.