Friday, 6th June, 2014
Stoke City chairman Peter Coates believes that Liverpool boss Brendan Rodgers should not have won the Manager of the Year award as he "failed", with Tony Pulis more deserving of the accolade.
Pulis worked under Coates at Stoke before the chairman opted to show him the door last summer, following a finish of 13th in the Premier League.
Coates brought in former QPR manager Mark Hughes, while Pulis took over at Crystal Palace in November, inheriting a side looking destined for relegation.
Pulis worked wonders at Selhurst Park and led Palace to an eventual finish of eleventh, with the Eagles picking up steam rather than losing it as the end of the season approached. Indeed, on form over the final nine games of the season, Palace were fifth in the table.
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Rodgers meanwhile led Liverpool to second spot in the table, narrowly missing out on the Premier League title to Manchester City and vastly overachieving on the Reds' stated goal of Champions League qualification.
Even so, Coates feels when it came to the crunch, the Liverpool manager failed and Pulis should have collected the Manager of the Year accolade ahead of him.
"Tony would have had my vote for manager of the season", Coates told the BBC.
"He had an amazing season. I'm really pleased for him.
"To come in and do what he did eclipsed Brendan Rodgers, who had a wonderful season, but failed in the end", the Stoke chairman added.
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