Pulis in frame if Clement is axed by Swansea
TONY PULIS is the leading contender to take over at Swansea City if the board lose patience with manager Paul Clement.
Sportsmail understands Clement’s future is not dependent on winning at home against Bournemouth today, but Swansea are very aware of Pulis’s record of never having been relegated as a manager. The Swans are the only club in the bottom five of the Premier League not to have had a change of leadership this season, and defeat today would be a fifth consecutive loss for the Welsh side. They have also lost five of their six home league matches so far in this campaign. Pulis, 59, would be available to start immediately after he was sacked by West Bromwich Albion last Monday. Clement does not believe his job depends on victory against Bournemouth today — and called on his players to be ‘mentally tough’ in coping with the increasingly fraught atmosphere at the Liberty Stadium. He said: ‘The owners are very supportive of my position here. They are not happy with the performances, the chairman is not happy with performances, neither am I, and neither are the players. ‘I think the atmosphere has affected some players, that is normal — but they have to learn to deal with that. You have to be mentally tough in times of difficulty when you are not playing so well, you make a mistake and the crowd turn. ‘How they deal with that is an important part of being mentally tough as a player. ‘The players have experienced it, they have to go out and try to perform well. ‘If something does go wrong they must have the confidence and be positive enough to continue to try to do things in the correct way.’