REMEMBER, REMEMBER.. WHAT I DID BEFORE NOVEMBER
Pulis hits back at protesting Baggies fans as he reminds them of struggles before he arrived
TONY PULIS has accused the West Brom lynch mob calling for his head of having short memories.
He claims they have forgotten Albion were 17th in the table and deep in relegation trouble when he took charge in January 2015.
Pulis comfortably kept them up, repeated the trick the following season and guided them to 10th last term.
He also pointed to how he had improved the squad by bringing in talent such as Salomon Rondon, Nacer Chadli and Jonny Evans.
Some Baggies fans chanted, “We want Pulis out” towards the end of their defeat to 10-man Huddersfield.
But Pulis said: “That’s what people forget, the job you’ve done. That’s soon forgotten if you go on a bad run and supporters are unforgiving.
“That’s not just at this football club, it’s at every football club. But my record at the club, you have a look at the players we’ve brought in, have a look at the quality, have a look at the fact we’ve made money every year I’ve been at this football club.
“We’ve had a change of chairmanship, everything is going on and this club has steadily progressed.
“We’ve had a dip this year. Fine. But are we strong enough to get through it? Are we good enough to get through it? I think we are. But as a club mid-table in the Premier League, you don’t always go up and up and up.”
Pulis feels he is a victim of his own success because fans naively expected West Brom to better last season’s 10th-place finish.
“Expectation levels go through the roof,” said the Welshman. “We brought some good players in and everybody was talking about us finishing in the top eight.”
Few chairmen are more patient than John Williams, who Pulis says is still backing him.
He said: “John popped in as he always does after games and unity in the dressing room is absolutely first-class.” But many fans voiced their discontent and those calling BBC Radio 5 Live’s 606 on Saturday said they want rid of Pulis for his style as much as Albion’s nine-game winless slump in the league. They have never liked his direct football and were angered by his safety-first approach at Huddersfield, where he effectively started with five defenders and three holding midfielders. West Brom had no pace or creativity and, despite playing against 10 men for half an hour when Christopher Schindler was sent off for a second booking, only threatened in stoppage time. They also defended poorly and although they could argue Jonathan Hogg fouled Jay Rodriguez in the build-up to the wonder strike by Rajiv van La Parra (above), they still had ample chances to snuff out the danger. Not taking those opportunities has left Pulis feeling the heat.