‘TONY PULIS PRETTY MUCH HELD ME HOSTAGE IN A CAR - UNTIL I AGREED TO SIGN FOR STOKE CITY!’
TONY Pulis was a huge influence on me straight from the first time I met him to the day he left Stoke City.
He played a massive part in who I am, what I’m about and my standards and was perfect for me in those five or six years as a footballer and person.
He gave me a huge amount of responsibility and believed in me as a player.
Yet I’d actually agreed to join Norwich before he got me a couple of days before the start of the 2007/08 season. His line was: “Come to our place and you’ll play.” Lights went off in my head. That was the key. I was 19 and wanted games.
He took me to the training ground but that was just a waterlogged field at the time.
“Look at the facilities,” he said. I was thinking, “I’ve come from Manchester United!”
The stadium was still pretty new but even that looked like it needed at least a good lick of paint.
But Pulis pretty much held me hostage in a car until I agreed. I said I needed to speak to my agent, Chris Lomas – who’s been my agent through my career – and Man Utd. He said not to worry about that.
He got out and told Chris it was all sorted. Chris said we’d not sorted out any figures and Pulis said, “Ryan’s said it’s sorted!”
Chris and Tony Scholes had to frantically sort out all the details that Pulis had already told me I’d agreed!
It’s fair to say he was a dominating figure.
I was coming into a club that had one physio and one fitness coach, the food wasn’t very good and we had to get changed at the stadium then drive to the training ground.
Of course I had to drive all the time because I was the youngest in such an experienced dressing room that put me through torture.
Jon Parkin, Liam Lawrence and anyone else would pile into my Peugeot 307 and make a right mess but I did have Rory Delap and Andy Griffin looking after me, making sure I was all right. Until you proved you’re good enough they’d hammer you but as you played well you became accepted.
Loads of things you’d moan about now were the things that brought us together.
They were brilliant times, brilliant memories and that first season was fantastic for me and the club.
I never really saw promotion coming until late – not until we beat Bristol City at home when Mama scored twice – because we never got ahead of ourselves. Pulis was great at keeping feet on the ground and if you didn’t he’d come down on you like a sledgehammer. We were such a good team with togetherness.
But I had a tough start in the Premier League and I got dropped. I’d had such a good year in the Championship and struggled massively with that. I wanted to go back on loan, I didn’t think I was good enough and I wanted to play games – but Pulis was not having any of it and told me to stay put.
I got put on a weights programme with our fitness guy Scouse, had six games out and that was it for the next 10 years. I loved it. Our home games had a ferocious atmosphere. You might get something like it two or three times a season now but in that year it was every weekend. It the opposition from the first whistle and made their life horrible.
Pulis played up to that. We had players who weren’t as good as the teams we were coming up against so we did that intimidation side brilliantly. Our home record was incredible.
As we established ourselves, Pulis made some really clever and important signings right down the core.
He brought in good players and good lads to replace big characters. Abdoulaye Faye was replaced with Huthy, Begovic replaced Sorensen, we had Beattie then Crouch.
He was really good at identifying those players in key positions and deserves a lot of credit for it. Each year he made us better.
He made me captain at the start of the season that we got to the FA Cup final.
I was still the youngest in the group and we weren’t short of leaders but he put his faith in me and I grew into the role. We had a good season in the Premier League and had some luck with the draws on the way to Wembley but kept winning. Then the semi-final was one of the best games of my life.
I know we and Pulis got branded but we scored some great goals. I thrived on that season, loved that journey.
And if I loved the FA Cup run I enjoyed the European run even more. The away fans going to great places. The atmospheres were bonkers.
I remember the rocket going off in the second-half at Split and at Besiktas they were throwing all sorts at us, including phones. If one had hit us it might have knocked someone out!
When we played Valencia at home they battered us. The team that Pulis played in the away leg – which had a lot of changes – performed a lot better. It was disappointing to be one of nine players left at home because we felt we’d have enough to stay in the league but I enjoyed the journey so much.
There is a recent interview with Pulis looking back to around that time and picking me out for a half-time dressing down at Blackburn, not because I’d played badly but the opposite. He says we’d played very well and he wanted to keep us on our toes by battering the skipper.
I do remember that one but, to be honest, me and Huthy, below, got it every single game. It was expected and towards the end it lost its effect. You knew yourself whether you’d played well or not. The following season did prove to be the end. It was strange because by Christmas we had our most points since promotion.
We beat Liverpool on Boxing Day and we were wondering where we were going to finish.
Then gradually we were wondering where the next win was going to come from. It took until February to beat Reading then April to beat QPR and Norwich and stay up. It was surreal how the season had flipped from best start to worst run. You question yourself and everything around you but it’s just football.
When it was announced at the start of the summer that Pulis was leaving it felt like it was the right time.
The messages, the aggressive Tony didn’t have the same impact so you can either change all the players or you can change the boss.
I felt like I needed a change too but I’ll never forget that whole chapter and he must go down as one of the very best managers Stoke City has ever had.
We’ve probably had a difficult relationship since then. The voicemail incident wasn’t pleasant after we played West Brom in 2017.
I didn’t think it was needed and I was also disappointed that it was brought into the public eye. I don’t think it was handled well by anyone.
But that is emphatically overtaken by everything he did for me. I have a huge amount of respect for him. He’s helped make me the man I am, the player I have been and, perhaps one day, the manager.