West Brom have played their get-out-of-jail-free card but Tony Pulis will know that no two jobs are the same

West Brom have played their get-out-of-jail-free card but Tony Pulis will know that no two jobs are the same, writes Adam Bate...

Christmas is a time for board games with the family so perhaps West Brom chairman Jeremy Peace has been indulging in a bit of Monopoly. It’s certainly tempting to picture him leaning back in satisfaction having played his get-out-of-jail-free card. Tony Pulis to the rescue. Fait accompli.

The notion of Pulis as some sort of guarantor of Premier League status is one that grows with the telling. The man himself has come to be defined in such terms. Pulis might not boast the silverware of others but he’s rightly proud of the fact that his career has never been tainted by relegation.

It’s the sort of thing that doesn’t escape the notice of twitchy chairmen who prefer substance over style. Forget the talk of long-term philosophies, with books to balance and the precipice in sight, coaches with an impeccable ability to avoid the drop will always be of interest at this time of year.

Every successful club is built on unity and that is what I shall strive to help bring to Albion.

What Pulis achieved at Crystal Palace was truly astonishing. This was a team that had taken four points from 11 games on the morning they appointed the Welshman last season and were priced as high as 1/20 to be consigned back from whence they came by the following spring.

They proceeded to take 39 points from the next 24 matches, form that - if extrapolated over a full season – could have seen Palace finish seventh, just a couple of points below Manchester United. Ultimately Palace finished 11th, achieving the third-highest placing in their 109-year history.

Of course, Premier League safety is nothing new to Pulis. Back in 2008, he had taken Stoke City into the top flight for the first time in 22 years and kept the Potters among the top 14 in the Premier League for five consecutive seasons. Their approach was distinctive.

Direct style

With the likes of Mamady Sidibe and Peter Crouch contesting set-pieces, four centre-backs strung across a narrow pitch and the robust presence of Jon Walters on the wing, Stoke were unique. As such, Pulis became synonymous with a direct style of play. Perhaps even a one-trick pony.

“People, especially in this country, are big on perception and I think you do get pigeonholed,” Pulis told the Mail. “I am not what people think I am. That doesn’t worry me because I get on with my job. My view is you play to what strengths you’ve got, and you do the best you can with that.”

But what are a team’s strengths? Taking over at Palace midway through last season was a different test and while Pulis did introduce Cameron Jerome to good effect, it necessitated new tactics. In an interview with the Evening Standard, Pulis stressed that he viewed it as an opportunity to show he was not just a one-dimensional coach.

“When we looked at the players we had at Palace and the system that we felt would suit the players, we came to realise that, if we were going to do it, we had to play very different to Stoke in lots of respects. We didn’t have a target man, we didn’t have someone we could play off. So, yeah we had to change it round to suit the players.”