Familiarity supposedly breeds contempt.
Now, while contempt might not be the emotion held by Stoke City players towards manager Tony Pulis per se, it has become increasingly obvious that the disconnect between the squad and their gaffer has grown enormous. Simply put, the relationship between the reeling club and its manager has reached a breaking point. Not only will Pulis not be managing Stoke come next season, there’s no guarantee that he will survive the year.
Now in his second spell as Potters manager, Pulis will always hold a place in the club’s history and in the heart of its supporters. He led Stoke to a return to the top-flight after a 23-year absence in 2008 and has kept them there since, but the club’s status as a Premier League side is right now a tenuous proposition.
This past weekend’s loss to Manchester United at the once fortress-like Britannia Stadium left Stoke three points above the drop and in the midst of an awful run that has seen the club win only two of its last 17 matches. To make matters worse, the club currently occupying the final relegation spot, Wigan Athletic, has two games in hand on Stoke.
Just a few months ago, a relegation battle at season’s end seemed beyond unlikely. Flashback to Boxing Day, when Stoke comprehensively defeated Liverpool 3-1 at home to climb to eighth in the table. At that time, the Potters sat a scant five points back of a Champions League spot, which makes this fall into danger of relegation all the more alarming. Stoke was flying high and seemed a good bet for a return to Europe after having progressed to the Europa League round of 32 the previous year, but as soon as the calendar turned to 2013, it has all gone to pot (pardon the awful pun.)
Perhaps, it was wishful thinking for Potters supporters to expect Stoke to hang around the Premiership’s elite for the majority of the season considering that their squad depth cannot come near that of Chelsea, Arsenal or Everton. But watching their side potentially falling off the precipice into the Championship was a fate most unfathomable. Yes, credit must be given to Pulis for using the modest means at his disposal to keep his team competitive in the Premiership for as many years as he has, but a wall has been hit and hit hard.
Stoke City’s wing play is essentially nonexistent. While it’s too early to close the book on American international Brek Shea, Matthew Etherington and Jermaine Pennant clearly are not the answers for what has basically eliminated any sort of creativity from the Stoke midfield. The Potters’ offence has been condemned to simply relying on latching onto speculative long balls up the middle, which has resulted in very little success and just 28 goals.
Much of Stoke’s decline is directly correlated to its drop in home form. Heading into 2013, Stoke was riding an impressive 16-match home undefeated streak, which made any side’s trip to the Britannia a good bet for lost points. But then something changed in January when Stoke was drubbed at home 4-0 by Chelsea. Since then, losses to West Ham, Aston Villa and this weekend’s defeat to United have followed and Stoke has only won one of its last six home dates.
So what now? Pulis told the club’s website on Sunday that the real season begins now for the Potters.
“It’s a five-game season and it really starts for us now. There are eight or nine teams in the scrap and we have to make sure we’re not in the bottom three,” the Welshman stated.
Stating the obvious will do little to assuage the fears of Potters supporters who now view relegation as a real possibility and it raises the question of Pulis, why did it get to this point in the first place? Even more upsetting is watching fellow league strugglers Sunderland unite behind their new gaffer, Paolo Di Canio, to thrash Newcastle 3-0 in an emotional Tyneside derby.
With only five matches remaining in the season, dismissing Pulis now might not be prudent, but a listless performance and a poor result against last-place QPR this weekend at Loftus Road might force the hand of chairman Peter Coates. Surely, Coates wouldn’t want to make that move, as his relationship with Pulis is strong, but the potential revenue lost through relegation outweighs friendship, for better or worse.
Pulis is the fourth-longest tenured manager in the Premiership right now behind only Alex Ferguson, Arsene Wenger and David Moyes. In an industry where some clubs go through managers like they do rolls of toilet paper, Pulis’s reign at the Britannia is impressive and a credit to the man. Yet, a manager’s job is not ironclad and even the very best are shown the door and very often not on their own terms.
Tony Pulis has been a great servant to the Stoke City, but 2013 has proven that he is no longer of service.