Arrogant Pulis was in the wrong

Confidentiality agreements signed by clubs and employees alike mean that we rarely hear what really goes on inside top football clubs. All we know about the Palace situation is that Pulis and Steve Parish (Crystal Palace co-chairman) disagreed over transfer strategy and targets. But I want to argue here that Pulis has behaved arrogantly, has missed the point spectacularly and has let Palace down badly.

Firstly, I’m not sure that Tony Pulis is quite as good a manager as has been made out, despite winning manager of the year last season. He is very good at keeping unfashionable clubs safe from relegation in the Premier League, but specializes in setting up teams to play unaesthetic, physically aggressive hoofball. He has never won any team silverware as a manager, not even in the lower leagues, and would never be considered for a job at really big club. One of Pulis’ fundamental misunderstandings is that football is not only a results business but an entertainment business too. That’s why he was forced out of Stoke and why Allardyce is so unpopular at West Ham, fans want to see short passing and aesthetic touches as well as good results (a side note: an American friend of mine watching a football match for the very first time remarked on how he likes it when they pass it around quickly, tiki-taka, pass-and-move football is intrinsically pleasing on the eye, I believe).

Another thing Pulis doesn’t seem to get is that professional football is a business and that Premier League clubs need to make a profit. Pulis and Parish reportedly fell out over transfer policy, Pullis wanted to buy older, experienced players like Peter Crouch, Parish wanted to invest in young players like Wilfried Zaha. I’m not sure what’s wrong with Parish’s logic there? Not only is Zaha is a more exciting and easy to watch than functional, big-target-man Crouch, but Crouch is 33 and has no resale value, Zaha is only 21, has huge potential and would have considerable possible resale value. Pulis should have accepted that it is in the long-term interests of the club to try to play attractive football and to invest in young players. In my place of work (as in the case of many people’s workplaces) I may not always agree with my boss’ decisions, but I get on with my job regardless because that’s life. We don’t always get what we want, why should Tony Pulis be any different?

Lastly, Pulis could hardly have left at a worse time, now the new manager will have very little time to work with the players (realistically, any new manager needs a full pre-season to get his ideas across properly) and only a week or two of the transfer window left. So, he’s really dropped Crystal Palace in it, and for all the wrong reasons too. In any case, many fans (me included) will be hoping that Pulis-and-Allardyce style football is on the way out of the Premier League for good.