Tony Pulis?

[Ionman34]

Now this is just a conjecture thread. As many of you know, I've been a huge advocate for giving our managers/coaches sufficient time to bed in and implement the playing style/personnel etc required to give them the best chance for success. So all of you "Fuck, not another managerial merry go round" merchants can hold your tongues.

I'm not advocating removing Poch in any way, shape or form, but the welter of disillusionment on here has had me thinking that, should it happen, who is the most suitable candidate. During my thought process, I was thinking about who the most successful managers in our history have been, the list is short and telling, they've all been British.

Arthur Rowe was a Tottenham boy, Sir Bill and Burky both Yorkies, with Aitch a Londoner as well (though whether you can claim a CL qualification as success is debatable).

When we were looking at a number of potential managers, I was advocating LVG, but Pulis was brought up and, after the initial wtf's, a few thought it was not such a bad idea.

I think there's a bit of typecasting around Pulis, with the belief that he is a route 1 merchant due to his Stoke days. The reality, for me, is that he is a pragmatist who utilises his players dependent on their skill sets. When he has skillful players, he exploits those skills, but what he does best is organise his teams so they work as a unit, not as individuals. He tailors his team selections to the opposition he faces, in much the same wat Maureen does. The difference is that he's had relatively inferior players to choose from. But he gets these players to punch above their weight consistently.

I do believe that he is a success story waiting to happen and think that, should the unthinkable happen and Poch have a mare next season, he should be nigh on top of the list for consideration.

Again I stress, I'm hoping that Poch manages to knock it out of the park, so I'm not after yet another change over. I just thought it would be interesting to debate the relative merits of a manager that I think could do something special were he given a shot with a team such as ours.

So no fighting, bitching or agenda driven diatribe please Just your thoughts on the merits of the guy.

 

[LexingtonSpurs]

Good mid-table manager

 

[etchedchaos]

Tony Pulis' footballing philosophy is a complete polar opposite to what we as fans demand and the traditions of Spurs. He's the last guy I would want in charge of our club and it's not a knock on him as a manager but because of his philosophy and what he would do to Spurs. Not to mention there's nothing in his history that points towards him having the pedigree to push us into the promised land, he's a defensive first, who gives a shit about attractive football type coach, nothing about that reflects Tottenham Hotspur and what we as fans demand.

 

[ShayLaB]

Would be great to see him at a top club.

Gets dropped into teams that are in trouble where the quickest solution is to shore up the defence so initially style may not seem great.

 

[Mr.D]

Naff off.

 

[Ionman34]

Tony Pulis' footballing philosophy is a complete polar opposite to what we as fans demand and the traditions of Spurs. He's the last guy I would want in charge of our club and it's not a knock on him as a manager but because of his philosophy and what he would do to Spurs. Not to mention there's nothing in his history that points towards him having the pedigree to push us into the promised land, he's a defensive first, who gives a shit about attractive football type coach, nothing about that reflects Tottenham Hotspur and what we as fans demand.

Funnily enough, after reading your post, I looked up Pulis' philosophy. It appears that he has neither spoken nor written about any philosophy at all.

What I did find though, was a piece on Eurosport.com, where Mourinho comments on his ability. Two comments in particular sprang out at me;

"If I own an English club, I sign Tony Pulis, it's as simple as that."

and

"He's a guarantee to achieve what the club wants."

Both direct quotes from Maureen. I was a bit tickled because they pretty much echo what I'm saying.

Go me

I don't think Pulis HAS a philosophy, other than to organise a team to deal with a specific situation, much as Mourinho does.

With better players, I'm pretty damn sure he'd be very successful.

 

[Everlasting Seconds]

Every manager has an philosophy, whether they talk about it or not. If you ask any manager to put into a few sentences what they do as manager, they'd answer that in a heartbeat. "Yeah, I believe that... ". If you replace the word "philosophy", which is completely abused in football, and rather us the less glossy word "approach", everybody would happily talk about their "approach". The difference is how stubborn a manager is about his approach, and whether he would choose approach over results or vice versa.

 

[Ionman34]

Every manager has an philosophy, whether they talk about it or not. If you ask any manager to put into a few sentences what they do as manager, they'd answer that in a heartbeat. "Yeah, I believe that... ". If you replace the word "philosophy", which is completely abused in football, and rather us the less glossy word "approach", everybody would happily talk about their "approach". The difference is how stubborn a manager is about his approach, and whether he would choose approach over results or vice versa.

That's fair enough. Maybe I should have worded it differently, in that he has never mentioned it, rather than he doesn't have one.

As I say, I think he's a pragmatist, in that results are more important to him than flair, but I believe that he's not averse to flair, if it gets the results, pretty much like Maureen.

 

[mill]

It would be interesting to see what he'd do at a big club, IF we end up in the situation of being a managerless mess mid season I think there's no doubt he'd sort us out in the short term, it's the longer term I'd worry about more. Getting us very well organised and fighting is one the thing, pushing us on a level is another

 

[JohannTHFC]

Tony Pulis is the master of getting the best out of what he has. Easy to say his footballing philosophy is terrible but he just played to his players strengths at Stoke. His Palace team was very exciting. It would be interesting to see him at a top club. Unfair to call him a "good midtable manager" considering that he has only had mid table resources (or even lower) at whatever club he's been at.

 

[muppetman]

There is a world of difference between getting a relegation threatened team to safety and getting us into the top 4. The expectation levels at Spurs are sky high which would be something that Pulis has never had to deal with.

I'd take him as a specialist defensive coach though!

 

[dontcallme]

Managers like Pulis have notoriously struggled at bigger clubs.

Good at organising his teams, getting the defence in shape etc. But once they have a squad full of more talented players they don't know what to do with them.

A lot of teams will play more defensively against the top 6 clubs than the likes of West Brom so some tactical nous is required.

Like Moyes, Allardyce, Curbishley and Hughes I simply don't believe Pulis is a good fit for a bigger club.

 

[Ribble]

He's been playing awful football at West Brom, far worse than he should be with the players he's got available. Pretty much playing with 6 at the back in some games. I guess we'll see how he does next season (although given he's about to lose both of his decent DMs to free transfers and probably won't get cash to replace them I'd not be surprised to see him jump ship again) but the signs haven't exactly been positive this time around.

 

[fatpiranha]

Pulis is a very good pragmatic manager. He has a strong grasp of the tactical side of the game and seems a good man manager.

His downside is he is absolutely awful in the transfer market. If we were to employ Pulis it would have to be in a DOF system where he has minimal input into which players we sign. That happens to be similar to our current system.

Personally I don't like the DOF system; a manager should get players he wants, but if we are to persist with the DOF system then Pulis is an excellent fit.

 

[Hotspur33]

Managers like Pulis have notoriously struggled at bigger clubs.

Good at organising his teams, getting the defence in shape etc. But once they have a squad full of more talented players they don't know what to do with them.

A lot of teams will play more defensively against the top 6 clubs than the likes of West Brom so some tactical nous is required.

Like Moyes, Allardyce, Curbishley and Hughes I simply don't believe Pulis is a good fit for a bigger club.

Yes agree with this. Whilst he has shown good ability to cope with pressure (saving palace and West Brom) Spurs is a different kind of pressure.
At Spurs he would have to set up teams to go out and win regularly as favourites. There would be an expectancy on him to win rather than hoping to win.
His 'philosophy' doesn't really bother me. As has been said, Stoke were awful to watch, yet Palace were exciting.
What is interesting is for all the good he did at Stoke, Mark Hughes has quietly gone in and bettered anything Pulis did before.

 

[Ribble]

What is interesting is for all the good he did at Stoke, Mark Hughes has quietly gone in and bettered anything Pulis did before.

It seems Hughes' head has finally deflated and he's willing to put in the hard work. He really should have stayed at Fulham way back when and continued to build something rather than jump ship to try and get a bigger job (can't even remember which one it was, Villa maybe?).

 

[ilikeost]

Jesus christ...

 

[danielneeds]

Funnily enough, after reading your post, I looked up Pulis' philosophy. It appears that he has neither spoken nor written about any philosophy at all.

What I did find though, was a piece on Eurosport.com, where Mourinho comments on his ability. Two comments in particular sprang out at me;

"If I own an English club, I sign Tony Pulis, it's as simple as that."

and

"He's a guarantee to achieve what the club wants."

Both direct quotes from Maureen. I was a bit tickled because they pretty much echo what I'm saying.

Go me

I don't think Pulis HAS a philosophy, other than to organise a team to deal with a specific situation, much as Mourinho does.

With better players, I'm pretty damn sure he'd be very successful.

Funnily enough there are many similarities between Jose and Pulis' approach -
Both drill their teams to within an inch of their lives defensively.
Both are pragmatic when it comes to cutting their cloth to the players they have.
Maybe if Jose wore a stupid baseball cap, he'd get less respect as well...

 

[beats1]

Fucking seen it all now

Cant wait for Alan Pardews thread next month(though he has done an awesome job)

 

[double0]

Wow some of our fans do worry me.... Jeeezzzz