Premier League Relegation Betting: Ditching Pulis would be suicide for Stoke

 

Stoke are getting dragged deeper into the relegation fight after losing to Manchester United, increasing the pressure on Tony Pulis. The Potters have won only once since Boxing Day - and that against basement club Reading - but Ralph Ellis says the Britannia faithful should be careful what they wish for...

 

It was a good day for Charlton on Saturday. Wonderful, in fact. They were 6-0 winners at Barnsley and might, just might, have a chance of sneaking into the Championship playoffs - although only if they win all their last four matches by the same sort of margin.

 

The Addicks fans probably think Chris Powell is a wonderful manager at the moment. He took them up from League One as champions with 101 points last season, and has done a decent job building on that. Just as well, then, that when they were calling for him to get sacked the previous summer, when he had collected just 12 points from his last 19 games, nobody took any notice.

 

But then at The Valley they probably remember only too well what happened the last time they listened to the club's fans. They were in the Premier League, in the top half, in fact, and were moaning that Alan Curbishley had "taken us as far as he can", and that he "plays boring football". The calls for change built to a crescendo and Curbishley himself ended up walking away.

 

What followed was proof that Curbishley had actually taken them as far as anybody could have done. And when Iain Dowie, Les Reed and then Alan Pardew, all in the space of the same season, tried to change the style it ended only in relegation and ultimately a crash right down to the third tier.

 

It's a tale that Stoke supporters might do well to remember. The clamour is growing at The Britannia Stadium for Tony Pulis to be removed. The nerves are on edge as a season that started with potential to break into the top half has degenerated into a fight to stay up. One win in 12 games since the start of 2013 is cause for concern. Manchester United scored early at The Britannia Stadium yesterday and quelled the hostile atmosphere all too easily.

 

Stoke, matched as high as 300.0 for relegation  this season, are now 5.7, and need to turn the tide when they go to QPR on Saturday or it will get tougher still.

 

What won't help them right now is bailing out on Pulis, the manager whose drive and personality has put them where they are. It's all too easy to look at the short term effect for Sunderland of bringing in Paolo Di Canio and ask for a similar change. But for the long term good of the club it is time to stay strong and trust a manager who has never been relegated in a career of more than 1,000 games to maintain that record.

 

Pulis is now the fourth longest serving Premier League manager behind Sir Alex Ferguson, Arsene Wenger and David Moyes. And no boss can stay in charge for that length of time without an occasional scare.

 

Many Everton fans wanted rid of Moyes in 2004 when he won only a single game of the final ten of the season and stayed up only because third from bottom Leicester had a dismal 33 points. There were people ringing the phone-ins too in 2005 when they lost six games in a row. The "he's been great but it is time for a change" brigade were shouting in 2009 as well when the Toffees got just one win in 12 games between October and Boxing Day.

 

Everton stayed strong each time and are now dreading that Moyes himself might decide it is time to move on. Stoke need to support Pulis in the next few weeks and trust that he too will keep the club moving forward in the long term. As Charlton fans might tell them, be careful what you wish for.

 

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