shandypants

Bruce is arguably a mercenary and Carlos never sent a single player out on loan if I remember correctly.

You're being a little facetious there mate but good spot. In relation to my foreign manager comment; what I mean is that they come in with the right intentions but it's unfamiliar to them as the organisations and responsibilities are different in the football cultures they come from.

I saw an interview with Jay-Z about him setting up an agency to manage US sports people's wealth. He said that a large percentage of US sports men and women (particularly in the NFL) earn and absolute fortune but spend it as fast as they earn it and end up bankrupt soon after their career finishes. I wonder if this is the case for professional athletes worldwide?

Say what you want about Pulis' style of football but this shows you that we need someone like him to get the football side of the club operating properly. I am encouraged by him every time I hear him speak. We've needed someone like him for ages because, with the exception of Brian Laws, Gary Megson and Big Ron's second spell, we've been p155ing about with foreign managers, mercenaries and inexperienced/crap managers for the last 25 years IMHO.

Peter Crouch, in his podcasts, talks about "fining systems" at all football clubs he's been at and he says every club have them . It relates to loads of things from sensible (like bookings, I guess) to ridiculous (wearing flip-flops in the shower). At the end of the year, the proceeds either get donated to something or go towards a squad night out (or something similar).

I would love him to sign for us. He has a bit of spite, which we need.

Four games is not long enough to rate a manager.

Many of the replies on here prove my point. People are expecting a marked difference already. A new manager needs time to bed in. If it's still bad after a reasonable time then let's push to change things but it's too early to start criticising. I don't want to watch boring football but I also realise that every manager needs time to establish their style. Pulis has had four games for heaven's sake - cut the man some slack.

Some people are already complaining - that is ridiculous. I feel that Pulis' reputation for negative football (whether valid or not) is already clouding some people's judgement and reason. Pulis' games thus far haven't been that entertaining but we were hardly playing beautiful football immediately prior to Pulis joining nor have we played beautiful football for many a year.

I can't understand some of the criticism that Tony Pulis has been getting relating to the style of football we've played under him so far. He's only managed four games and he's inherited a squad is widely considered to be the one of (if not) the worst over the last twenty years in terms of balance and quality - how are we expecting him to make us play something that is easy on the eye when we weren't doing so previously? Do some people think Pulis has a magic wand? Do some people really think that if Paul Cook or Eddie Howe came in instead, we would be playing beautiful football - my guess i

...and this is why having an old campaigner like Pulis in charge is a good thing. He's built squads before, he has the contacts in the game and he knows what is required to bring success. This is a golden opportunity to rid the club of the deadwood. Pulis is not scared of telling Chansiri how it is and its good that he is in charge at this key point because I'm pretty sure that Pulis won't want to be p1551ng away money on players he thinks the fans want.

Is it a bit slow today on here Neil?

If we weren’t going to get a top Prem team then that’s as good a draw as we could have hoped for.

but he did sign them and it led to his dismissal.