Potters move closer to Pulis

Stoke City have finally been given permission by Plymouth Argyle to officially talk to manager Tony Pulis.

Plymouth Argyle released the following statement today: ‘Following renewed requests from Stoke City and from Tony Pulis himself, we have reluctantly granted permission for Stoke to talk to Tony.
‘A compensation package has been agreed between the two clubs, should those talks result in Tony returning to Stoke.’

Pulis is on holiday in Portugal until the end of next week although it is still expected that contracts will be agreed during the next few days and that he will be officially unveiled as the new Stoke City manager when he returns from holiday.

Stoke’s chief executive, Tony Scholes has said today that ‘We have been considering a number of individuals for the role, including a great many who have directly applied for the post.’

As it is widely believed that Pulis has always been the number one target and that the job was never formally advertised, one can only assume that this was to cover the club in case Argyle stuck to their guns and continued to refuse Stoke permission to talk to Pulis or negoiations stumbled at some point.