Pulis: Palace have wasted millions
ANDREA RANOCCHIA hopes to follow in the footsteps of his mentor Antonio Conte and take the Premier League by storm.
The Italian defender is attempting to rebuild his battered reputation after joining Hull on loan from Inter Milan for the rest of the season.
Ranocchia, handed his big break by current Chelsea head coach Conte while at minnows Arezzo, became a hate figure for fans at the San Siro after failing to live up to his promise.
The 29-year-old was part of the Bari side that earned promotion to Serie A under Conte, helping him to seal a bigmoney move to Inter in 2011. The Blues chief and former Italy manager remained a big fan of the imposing centre-back, handing him the most recent of his 21 international caps 12 months ago.
Ranocchia was warned off a Premier League move by friends who struggled to adapt to the rough and tumble of the English top flight.
But he insists he has made the right decision to move to the KCOM Stadium to boost the Tigers’ battle to avoid the drop, having helped them to two clean sheets in his four appearances to lift them just a point away from safety.
“I spoke to other players who had played in England and they said it would be very different and difficult and that I might struggle,” he said.
“To be honest since I’ve been here, I’ve been TONY PULIS claims his former club Crystal Palace have failed to deliver on their huge spending since he saved them from relegation.
The West Brom boss meets his former charges today for the first time since being ordered to pay Palace £3.7million after a High Court judge upheld a ruling that he had obtained a £2m bonus from Palace by ‘deceit’.
Sam Allardyce’s side are in the bottom three – 18 points behind the eighth-placed Baggies.
Pulis said: “They are in a false position with the amount of money they’ve spent, the strength of their squad and the amount of players that they’ve got. And they’ve backed it up with loan signings like Loic Remy and Mamadou Sakho,”
“Add that to Christian Benteke, Andros Townsend, Wilfried Zaha, Yohan Cabaye – you can go through it.
“They have spent an enormous amount of money and they did it to try to get in the top six. So where it’s all gone wrong I don’t know.”
Allardyce, right, the latest to be given the job of halting the Eagles’ slide, described Pulis as a “tactical genius”.
“He has made his side resilient, tough, hard to beat, and also improved the skill factor, plus improving the front end,” said Allardyce.
“He has given West Brom a quality season, because he gets results, and that includes success against the big boys. He gets criticism at times for the way his teams play, but for me he is a tactical genius.
“Plus you go in his office after a game and there is always a nice bottle of red wine and good food.”
Albion won at Selhurst Park on the opening day, but since then a High Court Judge upheld the ruling made by a Premier League Managers’ Arbitration Tribunal.
It concluded that Pulis secured a £2m bonus for keeping Palace in the Premier League in 2013-14 by misleading them over a land deal. He resigned soon afterwards. Pulis has previously been given a hero’s reception by Palace fans and he does not believe the panel’s findings should change that.
“They have to make their own mind up and decide,” he said. “They’ve had five different managers since I have come to Albion – two interim managers and three managers.
“They were fantastic and what has happened off the pitch is really disappointing – but I’m not allowed to go into it. But that seven or eight months at Palace was fantastic and I’ve got great memories of the time there.”
Pulis has yet to pay Palace any of the £3.7m and is believed to be considering another appeal.
“The lawyers have told me to say nothing but as soon as it’s all concluded I will have my say then,” he said. Pulis is ready to hand defender Gareth McAuley, 37, who despite his age has played in every game for the Baggies this season, a new contract.
And Allardyce has killed off fears that £32m striker Benteke would walk out on Crystal Palace if they are relegated. “He signed a five-year contract, so he will not dictate what he wants or doesn’t want,” said Allardyce.
“He accepted the deal in good faith and if both parties agree on a deal, it’s a different matter. It sounds to me like more speculation, more rumour to stir the pot.”