IT’S PULIS OAR BUST
EVERTON v WEST BROM An Eiffel of football gets Baggies boss through charity row training KLOPP A LOAD OF KEVIN
KEVIN MIRALLAS is a target for Borussia Dortmund boss Jurgen Klopp as he looks for a remedy to his side’s woeful first half of the campaign.
Dortmund qualified for the Champions League last season after finishing second in the Bundesliga to Bayern Munich.
But they have been awful this term, winning just four league matches, and are second-bottom at the midway point. Now Klopp is looking to recruit TONY PULIS hopes he is pulling in the right direction to keep West Brom in the Premier League after putting hi-tech screens around his rowing machine.
The Baggies boss admits he finds going backwards and forwards a boring daily grind as he trains for a charity row-a-thon from Tower Bridge across the Channel to the Eiffel Tower.
So now Pulis makes the most of his time by watching DVDs of matches, studying player performances and looking at transfer targets.
He said: “I’m in the gym at 6am and it’s all about rowing. I do it for a couple of hours and then I get fed up of it and I leave it a few days.
“I’m trying to get myself physically fit by doing other things as well, like cycling for 40 minutes, weights, core stuff.
“I have time to think when I’m on the rower. The lads have set something up in the gym and time goes a lot quicker now I can watch TV.”
A few weeks ago critics were suggesting Albion were up the creek without a paddle, but the mood has changed since Pulis replaced Alan Irvine.
West Brom beat Hull in his first Premier League match and tomorrow they travel to misfiring Everton.
And Pulis embraces the professional challenge as well as the personal one having accepted the invitation to row down the Thames, across one of the busiest waterways in the world and up the Seine to Paris at the end of May.
He is raising money for the Donna Louise Children’s Hospice in Stoke and over the years he has climbed up Kilimanjaro, cycled from John O’Groats to Land’s End and run two marathons.
He added: “I couldn’t say no. With all the stuff I have just jumped into, it’s going to be pretty tough. Rowing down the river is different to rowing across the Channel. There are going to be tides to contest with.
“The sleep deprivation is what worries me. I am quite a good sleeper so to not get that, that’s my biggest concern.
“There are two teams which take it in turns. Row for two hours, rest for two hours. We go continuously for seven days.”
Pulis is hoping that former West Brom loanee Romelu Lukaku does not make any waves for his team at Goodison Park.
He said: “Romelu is a good player and coming back to form.
“The last couple of games he looked on his toes again and is rocking and rolling now.” and Everton star Mirallas, who has 18 months left on his contract at Goodison Park, is high on his list of possible signings.
Klopp did not move quickly enough for the 27-year-old Belgian when he was leaving Greek side Olympiakos in August 2012 and lost out to Everton.
David Moyes paid £6million to take Mirallas to Merseyside and he has played a big part in the club’s success in recent seasons. Atletico Madrid are also keen on him.
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