Pardew ‘wrong man’ for West Brom, says Pulis

Tony Pulis accepts it was the right time for him to leave West Bromwich Albion last season but believes the decision to replace him with Alan Pardew was wrong.

Pardew (right) arrived at the Hawthorns in November, following the club’s poor start to the season under Pulis, but West Brom won just three games under him, and fell out of the Premier League a month after he was replaced by Darren Moore. Pulis, whose Middlesbrough side entertain Albion tonight in the Championship, was asked if he felt hard done by at the way his threeyear reign came to an end. He replied: “No, not at all. I think it was the right time, looking back, for the club and the right time for me.

“The only thing that surprised me was that Gary Megson was with me [as assistant] and I thought Gary would have been ideal. He took over for two games, went to Tottenham and drew at Wembley, drew with Newcastle. It was strange they changed and got Alan in. Alan is a friend of mine and I’m not having a go at him, but that club was well set up for Gary to take over because he knew the players. No matter what anyone says, I still think that squad was good enough to stay up.

“I was surprised at the appointment, because Gary was the ideal person. Darren [Moore] could have been his assistant. No disrespect to Alan, who had different ways of doing things, it disrupted things. Instead of coming out of the rut, it spoilt things.”