Steve Gibson sold Boro to me, says Boro boss
New Middlesbrough manager Tony Pulis revealed that he did receive alternative offers before agreeing to move to the Riverside
Pulis was appointed yesterday, tasked with leading Boro to promotion back to the Premier League.
He watched his new charges, under the caretaker charge of coach Craig Liddle, secure a fine 2-0 win over Bolton yesterday to lift the team to three points away from the play-off places.
Pulis said: “I thought I was going to have a bit of time off.
“I’d had a couple of phone calls from other clubs before (Boro chairman) Steve (Gibson) spoke to me, but I desperately wanted to have Christmas Eve and Christmas Day at home with my wife, children and grandchildren. I’d promised them that would be the case.
“I had a long chat with Steve after they had won at Sheffield Wednesday, and he kept ringing me from that point onwards.
“I said I’d come up to meet him, and I left Bournemouth early at about six o’clock (yesterday morning) to come up.
“I had breakfast, and I’d half made my mind up I wanted to come anyway, but I just wanted to clarify it face to face. “He sold the club to me.” Pulis, who had been linked with the Swansea job following Paul Clement’s departure, will take charge fully for the first time against Aston Villa at the Riverside on Saturday.
When the Welshman left West Brom last month he had indicated he would take a little break from the game but has returned to management quickly because he felt the set-up at Boro felt right.
“I wanted a challenge – a real challenge – and this reminds me so much of Stoke when I went there with Peter Coates,” said Pulis. “Steve Gibson is a football man who understands the game. I have great respect for him as a person and an owner.
“I really am looking forward to this.
“The immediate challenge is finding out about the football club and as a team we have to get as many points as we can, as quickly as we can.
“I wanted to come at this time because we have so many games in a short space of time, and I can assess everything.”
Pulis has taken charge of more than 1,000 games since his 25-year managerial career began at Bournemouth in June 1992. He won promotion to the top flight with Stoke in 2008.
Bolton remained rooted in the bottom three, and while they shocked promotion-seeking Cardiff at the Macron Stadium on Saturday, their search for a first away win of the season goes on.
“We looked a threat and got in some good positions, but it’s about seeing the game through,” Bolton boss Phil Parkinson said.
“The first goal was a ball down the side and Wheats (David Wheater) got across well, but a deflection carried the ball over Ben Alnwick’s head. The second one is just that split-second of concentration that has cost us.”