Stoke make their first signing

Stoke City have made their first signing of the summer, but it’s turned out to be the manager, Tony Pulis, who has been working without a contract since rejoining two years ago.

It appears that Tony came back to the Brit with just a handshake from chairman, Peter Coates. In this day and age of agents who have a legal background and managers that can be hired and fired on a chairman’s whim – you’ve only got to look at recent events at Chelsea and Man City to see what a precarious life a manager has – the news that TP has been working for two years without a contract is quite remarkable. But this just highlights the unusually good relationship that Pulis has with Coates, which has become self-evident during the last season.

TP has now signed a rolling one year contract with the club, which means that he always be entitled to a year’s salary if he is sacked and the club will always get compensation should he be poached by another club.