Sparks fly over Ryan voicemail
Hughes said Pulis used the word “loser” in a message left on Shawcross’ phone, the Albion boss hit back.
Pulis, who had seen his side grab a lastgasp leveller at WEST HAM yesterday, said: “It’s absolutely disgraceful. Firstly, the phonecall I made to Ryan is a private phonecall between me and Shawcross.
“And then, yes, I did mention losers, but I said about people with innuendos making allegations that weren’t true and when you lose a game of football you can still be a winner by taking it on the chin and getting on with it.
“I did use the word ‘loser’, but I meant it in that way and I actually said, ‘Ryan, you’ve never been that’. And then it has been spun in a horrible way.”
Pulis was left delighted during the match when Gareth McAuley hit the injury-time equaliser but his counterpart, Slaven Bilic, was sent off after raging at referee Michael Oliver and taking out his frustration on the pitchside microphone.
“To concede like this, it is very frustrating,” Bilic said. “The decisions were big-time against us, every one of them. It is hard for referees, but when you are on the wrong side of all decisions it makes you very, very angry. The referee was very bad today.
“To be fair I am already big-time punished with what happened in the game. I don’t think that I crossed the line, it was nothing personal. It was the fourth or fifth decision which went against us and it’s hard to get over that without reacting.”
Jose Mourinho claimed he was the ARTISTIC one after MANCHESTER UNITED produced a brilliant first-half display to swat WATFORD aside.
The Old Trafford chief was left purring after the Red Devils’ 2-0 win.
And in a side-swipe at Manchester City boss Pep Guardiola – famed for his approach to attractive football – he said: “It was the kind of football that if it was not Mourinho’s team but someone else’s team you would say it was art.
“But because it is my team you just say it was very good. But that’s okay.
“The first half was amazing. In the second half we had to score a goal to kill the game. And we did that.
“After that, we didn’t kill it to make it 3-0, we killed it tactically. And we did that because Watford are a good team.”