Albion boss loses bitter £3.7m Palace court fight

TONY Pulis faces having to pay Crystal Palace £3.7 million after an embarrassing court case ruled he deceived his former bosses.

The mammoth bill comes after the West Bromwich Albion boss took Palace to court over a £2 million bonus he was awarded just one day before leaving the London club.

It will come as a major blow to Pulis, who directly pocketed less than £1 million from the bonus but faces paying nearly FOUR TIMES that amount back.

A High Court hearing concluded Pulis deliberately sought to hoodwink Palace by claiming he needed the money to buy land for his children, which independent arbitrators ruled was not true.

The case centred around a heated meeting with players, which Pulis claimed was behind his departure from Selhurst Park.

He had said it happened on August 12, 2014, leading to his sudden decision to leave a day later, but Sir Michael Burton, the sitting judge, said evidence showed it actually happened four days earlier – before he was given the bonus.

He ruled Palace were right in saying Pulis was just waiting for the cash to clear before leaving. The Welshman had denied “fraud’’.

He said: “The defendant’s case was that the real reason for what occurred was that he waited until he had the bonus in hand, and then on the day afterwards informed the defendant that he wanted to leave.

“The arbitrators found that the defendant was right about the date of the meeting and about the claimant’s reason for leaving when he did.”

The claims are part of a longrunning battle between Pulis and Palace chairman Steve Parish, dating back to the start of the 2014 season, when Pulis departed days before it began.

Documents from the hearing earlier this month also reveal claims Pulis was asked to lead Palace into the season-opener against Arsenal but declined.

Sir Michael said: “On August 13, the claimant made it clear to Mr Parish that he was refusing to take the Arsenal game, and the arbitrators concluded that that was a sufficiently unequivocal statement that he was not prepared to continue to perform an obviously fundamental part of his contract as manager.”

Arbitrators had concluded that Pulis made “false representations”.

They decided he had not been “committed to the club”, had not intended to stay until August 31 and “there was no such land transaction”.

They also concluded he had not told the truth and “deliberately misled” Parish “concerning his intentions”.

“Mr Pulis secured early payment of his bonus from the club by deceit in August 2014,” arbitrators concluded.

“The day after he had secured payment of £2 million ... he dropped the bombshell on the club that he intended to leave, leaving it, as must have been his intention, tion, in the lurch on the eve of the new ew season.”

Arbit rat or s added: “By any standards his conduct (prior to and during the litigation) ) has been shown wn to be disgraceful.”ful.”

Pulis now faces a total bill of £3.78 78 millionilli – damages for deceit as well as interest and costs racked up by Palace.