Tony Pulis claims Sam Johnstone has had to convince West Brom fans of his qualities because of his Aston Villa days

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Sam Johnstone was part of the Aston Villa squad that failed to win promotion under Steve Bruce, but he was playing for West Bromwich Albion by the time Dean Smith did what his predecessor couldn’t

Tony Pulis has claimed that Sam Johnstone’s job of convincing West Brom fans that he is a good player had been made ‘doubly difficult’ because of his Aston Villa past.

Goalkeeper Johnstone spent 18 months on a season-long loan at Aston Villa, including playing their part in reaching the Championship play-off final under Steve Bruce.

Johnstone then returned to his parent club of Manchester United after that defeat to Fulham, and with Villa’s financial troubles at the time, they couldn’t really sign anyone, so Johnstone made a permanent switch to The Hawthorns.

Speaking to Sky Sports Football after West Brom had suffered their first defeat of the season (01/10/2019), Pulis made this claim about Johnstone.

“I think you have to understand, Johnstone was at Aston Villa and coming over to West Brom and convincing their supporters that he is a good player is doubly difficult,” Pulis told Sky Sports.

Not long after Johnstone had signed on the dotted lines for the Baggies, Villa’s financial troubles were sorted and they had new owners at the helm.

Not many would have predicted it at the time, but Villa would then go onto face Johnstone in the Championship play-off semi-final, where Dean Smith’s side would prevail.

Villa ended up winning that closely-fought encounter on penalties, as Johnstone wasn’t able to use his inside knowledge he had from previous seasons at Villa in trying to stop some of the spot-kicks.

Johnstone has suffered back-to-back play-off heartache and he will be hoping that will come to an end this season as Slaven Bilic hopes to guide the club to the Premier League.