Well- travelled Pulis seeks desire as he hits charm offensive
The former Stoke and Middlesbrough boss arrived at Hillsborough yesterday, pledging to restore the Owls to former glories. Stuart Rayner reports.
TONY PULIS spent part of his 18 months out of football developing his fascination with Napoleon but he returns not as a general barking orders, but keen to make friends and influence people.
Top of the list was his new boss, Sheffield Wednesday chairman Dejphon Chansiri.
The much- travelled manager said many right things in his first press conference since leaving Middlesbrough. He talked about his “dream” of beating Sheffield United in a Premier League derby, and added the Owls would be the bigger club if both were in the top flight. He promised entertaining football and made regular references to his new club’s size and loyal fanbase.
Out- of- favour goalkeeper Keiren Westwood has already been brought back into the tent, joining Pulis’s first training session yesterday, and told he will be first- choice if he can be added to the squad list.
But he most wanted to befriend Chansiri, watching on Zoom from Thailand.
Pulis is Chansiri’s sixth permanent Owls manager ( using the term in its loosest possible sense), and getting them back to the Premier League after two decades will not be a quick fix. He plans to win the owner over with honesty.
“The chairman’s put a lot of money into this football club,” is pretty much his opening gambit.
“In the first year they got into a play- off final, the second year a semi- final and the last two years have been a big drop- off.
“If you look at the finances this man has put into this football club, it’s an enormous amount of money and the returns should have been better.
“It’s my opportunity to step in, see what needs to be done, and be very, very honest with him.
“My biggest disappointment is the chairman’s not in the country. It would be nice to have dinner with him and really talk man to man about what is the best way of getting this team, the club, to push forward again.
“I will be as honest as I possibly can. Whether the chairman likes what I say at times, that is something we will have to sort out.”
That elicits a Chansiri chuckle. “My biggest challenge is to convince the chairman we can be friends and trust each other,” adds Pulis. “I think that’s the biggest thing he needs.”
It is about more than making their lives more enjoyable.
“It’s taken the fella across the way ( Sheffield United manager Chris Wilder) five or six years ( actually four),” says a manager who refused to reveal how long his contract is. “When I first started in this profession, I think most chairmen would say they’d give you three years – one to assess what you’re walking into, the second year to change what you think is needed and the third year is the big decision.
“The period of time managers get now is absolutely ridiculous.
“I want ( Wednesday) to be competitive and play with a passion and a desire. To put an identity on this team and on a football club takes time.”
Chansiri insists Pulis’s attitude is music to his ears.
“I don’t want to hear positive, I like to hear negative things so we can fix them,” he says, as Pulis smiles in his window.
“I always say whatever ( happens) we need to talk straight- forwardly because you need to be my right hand and have a good relationship with me.
“The fans say coaches always say yes to me but that’s not true, we always debate.”
The truth is, how long Pulis gets will have far more to do with results than rubbing the chairman up the right way, but at least Chansiri’s new general has made a good start.