NO MIDDLE GROUND
Downing: Pulis demands best or you’re off
PRESTON NORTH END v MIDDLESBROUGH Deepdale, 3pm STEWART DOWNING insists that everyone is playing for their Middlesbrough future under Tony Pulis.
No-nonsense Pulis is ready to swing the axe after Saturday’s 1-0 home defeat to Aston Villa.
Adam Clayton and Adam Forshaw look to be on their way after being left out, with the midfield duo attracting interest from Boro’s Championship rivals Sheffield United, Nottingham Forest and Sunderland.
Pulis has wasted no time in stamping his authority, and has issued a ‘my way or the highway’ warning to the under-performing players he inherited from the sacked Garry Monk.
Saturday’s defeat left the Teessiders three points adrift of the play-offs and former England winger Downing (bottom) revealed: “The new manager is intense and full-on and he demands the best.
“His aim is promotion and he’s already got his message across to everyone. He’s said, ‘If you don’t work you’ll be out in January.’
“He’s spoken to us collectively, and to a few of the older lads individually. He knows he has some good players to work with here.
“I almost signed for him twice before in my career, so I know what he’s all about as a manager.
“But he’s getting to know us all at the moment.”
Middlesbrough travel to in-form Preston under no illusions as to the high standards demanded by Pulis, who said: “Our current squad is bigger than the one I left at West Brom, and that’s too many in my view.
“The chairman Steve Gibson spent an absolute fortune in the summer, and out of respect to him I have to be prudent with what I do.” Preston club captain Tom Clarke (above, celebrating) put eight months of Achilles injury heartache behind him when he headed the last-minute goal that beat highflying Cardiff in south Wales on Friday night.
And as he prepares to face Boro today Clarke admitted: “It has been a difficult period and this has probably all come a lot earlier than I thought it would.
“I have worked hard for that and just to be in and around the team was what I wanted and that has happened.
“To be back in the team this early and be playing the games that I have, is really good.
“It is a big game against Boro – a big team with a new manager, so new scenarios will be put forward and we’ll have to work on those.”