Tony Pulis has never been the flashiest tactician in English football, but few managers have squeezed more out of their squads. In his latest BBC Sport column, the former Premier League boss digs into the art and graft of man-management – and his central message is simple: the whole club has to work together, not just the eleven on the pitch.


Tony Pulis on the touchline giving instructions during a Premier League match
Tony Pulis on the touchline – where man-management decisions are the product of work done all week at the training ground.

Why “The Whole Club Has to Work Together” Is More Than a Slogan

Pulis argues that a manager’s job stretches far beyond picking a starting XI. From the canteen staff to the analysts, from the academy to the dressing room leaders, he believes alignment across the club can turn a mid-table squad into a hardened, overachieving unit.

For Pulis, unity starts with clarity. Everyone must understand the team’s identity and how their role feeds into it. That’s the backbone of the culture he built at clubs like Stoke City, Crystal Palace and West Bromwich Albion.

“You can’t just manage the eleven on a Saturday. You’ve got to manage the whole football club – staff, players, even people who never go near the pitch. If they feel part of it, they’ll give you an extra five percent.”

That extra five percent is often invisible in the match stats, but it shows up in recovery work, attention to detail and the willingness to go through “one more” repetition in training.

  • Non-playing staff feeling valued and informed
  • Clear communication channels between departments
  • Senior players reinforcing standards in the dressing room
  • Young players understanding the pathway into the first team

Style Follows Squad: Building an Identity Around Player Strengths

Pulis is refreshingly blunt about tactics: your playing style must be dictated by the quality and profile of your players. Rather than forcing a rigid philosophy onto a mismatched squad, he starts with what the group can actually do at a high level.

At Stoke, that meant lean­ing into physicality, set-piece prowess and defensive organisation. At Crystal Palace, it meant exploiting pace in wide areas and counter-attacking spaces. Different tools, same principle – maximise what you have.

A football manager discussing tactics with players on a tactics board
Tactical identity is built around the strengths and limitations of the squad, not just a coach’s preferred system.

He frames identity not as a buzzword but as an agreement between manager and players about:

  1. How the team will defend – press high, sit deep, or mix both.
  2. How the team will attack – direct, possession-based, or transitional.
  3. Where the team’s “winning actions” are most likely to come from – wide play, set pieces, overloads, or individual brilliance.

Once those pillars are set, man-management becomes about buy-in. Players are far more willing to run, block and sacrifice if they believe the plan reflects their strengths and gives them a platform to succeed.


Beyond Unhappy Players: Managing Every Personality in the Squad

Pulis acknowledges that dealing with unhappy players – those left out of the side, eyeing moves, or frustrated by roles – is only one of many man-management battles. The real art lies in handling all types of personalities simultaneously.

  • Senior pros who set the tone but may resist change.
  • Young prospects desperate for minutes and validation.
  • New signings adjusting to the league and dressing room hierarchy.
  • Squad players who train hard but rarely feel the spotlight.

Pulis’s method revolves around honesty and consistency. Players might not like your decisions, he suggests, but they must trust your reasoning. That trust is eroded when messages and actions don’t line up.

“You can’t promise what you can’t deliver. If a lad asks where he stands, tell him straight. The worst thing you can do is fudge it. Word gets round a dressing room very quickly.”

From an analytical standpoint, stable dressing rooms tend to correlate with:

  • Lower red-card counts and fewer disciplinary issues.
  • More consistent defensive metrics (fewer unforced errors, better xGA trends).
  • Higher availability rates – fewer “non-specific” absences around selection disappointment.

The Numbers Behind Pulis’s Man-Management Reputation

Pulis’s reputation as a motivator and organiser isn’t built on aesthetics; it’s built on evidence. Across his peak Premier League spells, his teams consistently did more with less.

Football analytics chart displayed on a laptop screen
Behind every “hard to beat” reputation lies structure, data and man-management that keeps players committed to the plan.

The table below summarises indicative trends from his Premier League tenures (rounded, season-level data; figures are representative, not exhaustive):

Club (PL seasons) Avg League Finish Net Spend Rank* Clean Sheets / Season Relegations
Stoke City 11th–14th band Bottom third ~10–12 0
Crystal Palace Mid-table Bottom third ~9–11 0
West Bromwich Albion Mid-table Bottom half ~10–11 0 in full seasons

*Net Spend Rank: relative spending level compared with other Premier League clubs in a given season.

Statistically, his sides often ranked in the top half for aerial duels won, defensive duels and goals from set pieces – all areas that depend heavily on structure, role clarity and player commitment, not just raw talent.

For in-depth numbers on past seasons, supporters can cross-check via official data partners such as Premier League Stats and historical databases like FBref.


Inside the Training Ground: Daily Habits That Shape the Dressing Room

Pulis stresses that man-management is a daily discipline, not an occasional motivational speech. The standards set on a Tuesday morning often decide how a team survives a Saturday evening onslaught.

Football team training hard on a grass pitch under the guidance of a coach
Training ground standards – punctuality, intensity, attention to detail – are where man-management principles become daily habits.

Key habits he emphasises include:

  1. Visible presence: Being on the grass, talking to players individually, not just delegating to assistants.
  2. Consistent messages: Backing up video analysis with clear on-pitch drills.
  3. Role clarity: Making sure every player knows their job for specific game scenarios.
  4. Rewarding attitude: Recognising effort in training, not only performances on matchdays.

This approach turns fringe players into reliable stop-gaps rather than frustrated onlookers. When called upon, they’re plugged into a structure they’ve been rehearsing, not thrown into chaos.


The Human Side: Knowing When to Push and When to Protect

Pulis’s hard-edged touchline persona can obscure a more nuanced side of his management. He often talks about understanding what drives each player – family background, career stage, confidence levels – before deciding how to handle them.

A coach putting a reassuring arm around a football player on the sidelines
Man-management is often about timing: knowing when a player needs a hard truth and when they need protection and belief.
“Some lads need a rocket, others need an arm round the shoulder. If you treat them all the same, you’ll lose half the dressing room.”

Human-interest stories from his career – backing a struggling youngster, protecting a senior pro from public criticism, quietly helping players through off-field issues – underline the point that elite football remains a people business.

  • Checking in on players after injuries, not just before comebacks.
  • Giving private feedback first, public praise second.
  • Allowing room for honest conversations about form and selection.

Man-Management in Today’s Data-Driven Premier League

Football has evolved rapidly, with analytics, sports science and recruitment models reshaping how clubs operate. Yet Pulis’s core principles still resonate in 2025: clarity of identity, honest communication and collective responsibility.

The modern challenge for managers is balancing hard data with human insight:

  • Using analytics to inform selection without reducing players to spreadsheets.
  • Integrating sports science load management with a player’s own feel for their body.
  • Aligning recruitment strategy with the manager’s tactical identity and dressing-room culture.

Clubs that get this balance right – from academy level to first team – often mirror the “whole club” ethos Pulis champions, even if their football looks very different to his.

Fans and analysts can track how current managers are blending these elements via official resources like the BBC Sport football hub, the Premier League site and individual club websites.


Looking Ahead: What Today’s Managers Can Take from Pulis’s Blueprint

As the Premier League continues to evolve, the specifics of Tony Pulis’s style – deep blocks, aerial bombardment, set-piece focus – won’t suit every club. But his man-management blueprint remains highly relevant.

  • Build a playing identity around what your squad can actually execute.
  • Communicate honestly, especially with those outside the starting XI.
  • Unite the entire club behind clear standards and shared responsibility.
  • Blend data and human insight to understand the person behind the player.

As Pulis’s column underlines, managers are judged on results, but those results are often forged far from the cameras – in quiet conversations, difficult decisions and the daily work of keeping a squad aligned.

For supporters, the next question is clear: which of today’s head coaches are best at turning tactical ideas into unified, motivated dressing rooms? And when the pressure rises in the run-in, whose clubs will truly “work together” in the way Pulis believes is essential?