Tony Pulis

Tony Pulis

Pulis as Crystal Palace manager in 2014
Personal information
Full name	Anthony Richard Pulis[1]
Date of birth	(1958-01-16) 16 January 1958 (age 66)[1]
Place of birth	Pillgwenlly, Newport, Wales
Height	5 ft 10 in (1.78 m)[2]
Position(s)	Defender
Youth career
	Newport YMCA
	Bristol Rovers
Senior career*
Years	Team	Apps	(Gls)
1975–1981	Bristol Rovers	85	(3)
1981–1982	Happy Valley	13	(0)
1982–1984	Bristol Rovers	45	(2)
1984–1986	Newport County	77	(0)
1986–1989	AFC Bournemouth	74	(3)
1989–1990	Gillingham	16	(0)
1990–1992	AFC Bournemouth	16	(1)
Total		326	(9)
Managerial career
1992–1994	AFC Bournemouth
1995–1999	Gillingham
1999–2000	Bristol City
2000	Portsmouth
2002–2005	Stoke City
2005–2006	Plymouth Argyle
2006–2013	Stoke City
2013–2014	Crystal Palace
2015–2017	West Bromwich Albion
2017–2019	Middlesbrough
2020	Sheffield Wednesday
*Club domestic league appearances and goals

Anthony Richard Pulis (/ˈpjuːlɪs/; born 16 January 1958) is a Welsh football manager and former footballer who last managed Sheffield Wednesday.

Pulis obtained his FA coaching badge at age 19, followed by his UEFA 'A' licence aged 21 – making him one of the youngest professional players ever to have obtained the qualification.^[3] His son, Anthony, was a professional footballer and played at Stoke. Pulis had a 17-year career as a defender where he played for Bristol Rovers, Newport County, AFC Bournemouth and Gillingham. He also had a short spell in Hong Kong with Happy Valley.

Pulis took his first steps into management at Bournemouth, where he was a player/coach and then Harry Redknapp's assistant.^[3] He then took control when Redknapp left the club.^[3] He then went on to Gillingham before leaving in 1999 after a dispute with chairman Paul Scally. Pulis then had unsuccessful spells at Bristol City and Portsmouth before being appointed manager of Stoke City in 2002. He guided Stoke through a tough 2002–03 season avoiding relegation to the Second Division on the final day of the season. He spent two more seasons with Stoke before being sacked by Stoke's Icelandic board for "failing to exploit the foreign market". He spent the 2005–06 season at Plymouth Argyle before returning to Stoke along with Peter Coates. After narrowly missing out on a play-off spot in the 2006–07 season he guided Stoke to the Premier League in the 2007–08 season by finishing runners-up in the Championship.

With Stoke amongst the favourites for relegation upon their return to the top flight after a 23-year absence, Stoke went on to comfortably survive and finished in 12th position. Pulis made history during the 2010–11 season as he guided Stoke to their first FA Cup Final after beating Bolton Wanderers 5–0 in the semi-final. The Potters, however, lost the final 1–0 to Manchester City, but had the consolation of qualifying for European football. In the UEFA Europa League, Stoke lost 2–0 on aggregate in the round of 32 to Spanish giants Valencia. The 2012–13 season saw Stoke make little progress and Pulis left the club by mutual consent on 21 May 2013.

Pulis returned to management on 23 November 2013 joining Crystal Palace on a two-and-a-half-year contract. He guided Palace away from relegation, to their highest Premier League finish of 11th in 2013–14, which earned him the Premier League Manager of the Season award. He left the club, however, shortly before the start of the subsequent season. He joined West Bromwich Albion in January 2015, a post he held until November 2017. Pulis achieved a top half finish with West Brom in the 2016–17 season, finishing 10th, but the club made a poor start to the following season, culminating in his sacking. On Boxing Day 2017, Pulis was appointed manager of Middlesbrough, a post he held until May 2019. On 13 November 2020, Pulis returned to management when he was named manager of Sheffield Wednesday; however, on 28 December, he was sacked after 10 games in charge.