SHOTTON SO HAPPY TO BE PLAYING FOR PULIS AGAIN

RYAN SHOTTON has told Boro stars to fight to stay in Tony Pulis’s good books.

The Middlesbrough defender spent eight years under Pulis (above) at Stoke, getting his big break while in their academy.

Shotton says Pulis can unite Boro players for a promotion challenge.

Pulis took over from Garry Monk on Boxing Day and Shotton said: “He just demands 100 per cent hard work and fight and he’ll bring this team together better than anybody I know. He doesn’t care about individuals, he’s all about the team.

“He knows individuals become great if you have a good base of a team. He’s a good man to work with.

“I’ve spent a good few pre-seasons with him. The lads have been asking me quite a lot.

“Before he even got appointed, when his name was mentioned, there were a few texts coming my way.

“Then we came into training and it was, ‘Right, what’s he like?’ I just said, ‘If you’re prepared to work hard, you’ll find him very easy to get on with’.

“I didn’t give too much away, but then he’s put his stamp on it himself and all the lads know now from the way we’ve trained.

“Two wins in a row was massive for us. The Boxing Day win over Bolton could have been a slip-up, it was a bit of a banana skin, but we stuck at it, kept the clean sheet and knew goals would come.

“With the new manager, there will be hard work, togetherness and more clean sheets hopefully.”