Pulis - A 'big' eight weeks

Boss working hard to bring players in but refuses to name transfer targets

Last updated: 24th June 2008

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Pulis: Working hard

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Stoke manager Tony Pulis believes the next eight weeks are probably the most important that the Premier League new boys will have.

Pulis has guided Stoke back to the top flight for the first time since 1985 but is yet to bolster the squad which won promotion from the Championship.

He told Sky Sports News that the Potters have spoken to one or two clubs about players.

"But we haven't really got down to the nitty-nitty," he said. "The next eight weeks are most probably the biggest eight weeks this football club will have.

In place

"People think the season starts and that's when it all kicks off but these next eight weeks and the six weeks previous are really putting in place what's going to happen for the rest of the season and that's why the phone never stops. And that's why you've got to have your phone open because it's preparation for the following season."

Asked about being linked in the papers with Rangers' midfielder Lee McCulloch and the Moroccan striker Bouchaib El-Moubarki of Grenoble, he replied: "I don't know the Moroccan striker of Grenoble.

"I know McCulloch because he was at Wigan, but if I'm going to do any business with anybody, and I'm not saying that McCulloch's one that I'm after, I will speak to managers before I speak to anybody else."