Thursday, 17th April, 2014
Crystal Palace manager Tony Pulis admits that he had reservations about taking up the job at Selhurst Park, but former Manchester United manager Sir Alex Ferguson convinced him to take up the challenge.
Crystal Palace are eleventh in the Premier League table and have achieved the 40-point mark, widely believed to be the points tally that is good enough to survive relegation from the top division.
Pulis admits not many people in the football community encouraged him to take up the job due to the position the Eagles were in, but Ferguson and his former boss at Stoke City, Peter Coates, asked him to take up the challenge and manage the London side.
"Looking at it, everyone I had spoken to had said it was a difficult one”, the 56-year-old told ITV.
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"Sir Alex Ferguson and Peter Coates, my old chairman, were the only two who said to take it. And they were two good judges. The rest were very negative towards it.”
When Pulis took over at Crystal Palace from Ian Holloway in November of last year, the Eagles were at the bottom of the Premier League on four points from eleven games.
Pulis managed Stoke City in two spells, once between 2002 and 2005 and then again between 2006 and 2013. In his second spell at the Potters, Pulis guided them to promotion to the Premier League in 2008 and helped them to consolidate their position in the top division.
The Welshman left Stoke City in May 2013 after a meeting with chairman Coates and was replaced by another Welshman in Mark Hughes.
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