Tony Pulis heads back to the Britannia this weekend but there was a time when he stood in the opposing dugout. It’s time to take a look back on Pulis’ decade of dominance over West Brom.
Prelude to Pulis
Stoke’s hold over West Brom started long before the arrival of Tony Pulis. On December 18th, 1988, Brian Talbot led his West Brom side to an emphatic 6-0 victory over Mick Mills’ Stoke City. Prior to this result, these two traditional english sides had a reasonably balanced history, with neither side going more than six games without a victory over the other. Yet this 6-0 win would be West Brom’s final victory over Stoke for the next 18 league fixtures between them. Five Albion managers, including Bobby Gould and Ossie Ardiles, couldn’t find a way to beat Stoke in the league.
In fact, Stoke’s first league defeat to Albion in fifteen years came in Pulis’ first managerial appearance in this fixture. Early red-cards for Stoke’s John Eustace and West Brom’s Andy Johnson marred a game in which Scott Dobie bagged Albion’s winner. Jason Koumas ran the show as Stoke finished the game with nine-men when Marcus Hall was sent-off. However, Albion’s respite from Stoke’s dominance was only momentary. The next meeting between Gary Megson and Pulis ended in a 4-1 victory for Stoke and ended Albion’s chances of winning the league. And so it began, the Pulis years would be very grim viewing for Baggies fans.
Fuller’s House
What was bemusing about Pulis’ hold over the Baggies is that there was never a big gulf in quality between his teams and the West Brom teams he faced. Rather it was a clash of styles that tipped the balance in favour of Pulis. Few Stoke players embodied the Pulis brand of football better than striker Ricardo Fuller. The Jamaican played with a tenacity and physicality that always seemed to unsettle Albion defences.
Fuller scored five goals in a spell of four games against the Albion. Most memorably, his hat-trick at the Britannia in 2007, which saw him steamroll Albion’s centre-back pairing of Bostjan Cesar and Pele. Fuller’s run against the Baggies came in a period that saw the antithesis of football management philosophies – Tony Pulis and Tony Mowbray – pit their wits against each other. Mowbray gave West Brom fans an attacking and free-flowing side to be proud of but he struggled to cope with Pulis’ organised and direct teams.
Pulis could always rely on the naiveties of Mowbray’s side to gift him three points, and in the Premier League season of 2008/09, Pulis’ side did the double over Mowbray’s. Stoke were still without an away league win when they visited the Hawthorns in early April but Fuller capitalised on a Shelton Martis mistake to boost Stoke’s survival hopes – and all but condemn Albion to the drop. For all of Mowbray’s endearing qualities, he had deficiencies that Pulis and Fuller were built to expose. The capabilities Pulis possessed were the difference between Stoke’s survival and Mowbray’s downfall.
Glimmer of hope
In 2010, Albion bounced back to the Premier League under Roberto Di Matteo and started their campaign with plenty of promise. Di Matteo’s side looked well equipped for Premier League football with midfield enforcer in Paul Scharner; alongside him the tireless Youssouf Mulumbu; and the goals of Peter Odemwingie upfront. However, Di Matteo’s bright start soon tailed off and on a run of bad results they came up against their dreaded bogey side. Pulis’ Stoke team were not in a forgiving mood and dealt West Brom a three-nil defeat at the Hawthorns. The result was another reminder that Di Matteo suffered many of the same Premier League pitfalls as Mowbray.
Di Matteo lost his job in February and was replaced by experienced ex-Liverpool and Fulham manager Roy Hodgson. After a 1-1 draw with Wolves in his first game in charge, Hodgson took his team to the Britannia in desperate need of results. He made the bold decision of restoring the unpredictable Abdoulaye Meite to the starting line-up, along with the equally inconsistent Scott Carson. In typical Pulis fashion, Stoke bombarded Carson and Meite with relentless waves of Rory Delap long throws but Hodgson’s side held firm.
The Stoke eventual breakthrough didn’t come from a set-piece, instead Jermaine Pennant’s cross was met by the unlikely head of Delap. It looked as though Pulis had trumped the Baggies once again but on-loan Arsenal forward Carlos Vela rescued a late point. For the first time in 13 years Albion fans travelled home from Stoke with a point to show for.
Not since 1982..
Hodgson kept Albion up and the following season they faced Stoke in their third league game. Yet again, Hodgson’s side showed they were capable of going toe-to-toe with Stoke’s physicality but a last gasp Ryan Shotton goal gifted Stoke all three points. It was the nature of the goal that hurt just as much as the result. Shotton capitalised on a mix up between Gabriel Tamas and Ben Foster to slide the ball home. The travelling Stoke support filled the Hawthorns with a chant that told the infuriating truth, “We always beat West Brom.”
In January of 2012, Albion went to the Britannia on the back of three defeats, and with history against them, many anticipated Albion’s run would continue. A Thomas Sorensen mistake helped Albion take the lead through James Morrison. And things appeared to be going Albion’s way when Ben Foster saved a Jonathan Walters penalty, but Stoke found an equaliser shortly after through Cameron Jerome. Hodgson’s side battled on and were rewarded when Graham Dorrans free-kick found a way past Sorensen. The goal gave West Brom their first win over Stoke in ten attempts and their first win away at Stoke since 1982. Albion finally had a team and a manager to stand up to Pulis’ Stoke.
Forgive me Deliah I just couldn’t take anymore
West Brom would face a Tony Pulis Stoke team two more times and typically the Welshman would still collect four points. However, when Albion visited the Britannia in mid-March of 2013, the Potters fans were beginning to turn on their manager. Pulis’ style of play had finally exhausted the home crowd and his second-spell at the club would come to an end in the summer. Albion fans breathed a sign of relief.
Upon reflection
There was something about Tony Pulis’ Stoke team that got under a lot of peoples skin. Not just Albion fans but Arsenal fans and even some Stoke fans could relate to the feelings of frustration and resentment it provoked. Fans of opposing teams would point to their excessive physicality; their unfashionable style of football; that incredibly windy and noisy stadium or simply Rory Delap’s long throws. Above all else, it was the effectiveness of his football that drove Albion fans crazy. Pulis’ run of results was exasperating; often boring and, on reflection, strangely admirable. As Albion fans are learning now, Pulis doesn’t do aesthetics, he deals in results – and he was bloody good at getting those against the Albion.
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