TONY PULIS: THE MASTERMIND BEHIND THE MOST REMARKABLE TURNAROUND THIS SEASON

Crystal Palace have won five consecutive top-flight games for the first time in 22 years as Tony Pulis continued his remarkable escapology act with this hard-fought victory over an uninventive West Ham United. The Eagles won their fifth match in succession, their best such run in the Premier League since 1992, to celebrate in style on the day their survival in the top flight was confirmed.

His drive and determination even drives his wife Debbie nuts, but Pulis knows no other way.
There will be no let-up for Palace’s players, even if they are almost safe after a remarkable run of results under his leadership. The Eagles had four points when Pulis replaced Ian Holloway as manager and now they have 40. They can almost touch another season in the Premier League. For this reason Pulis is already regarded by many as the manager of the year after transforming a team that was hurtling towards the Championship at breakneck speed. No-one gave them a chance of getting out of it. Pulis has brought organisation and structure to the club, bringing discipline to a team that recognises its own limitations.

Palace’s manager leads by example and is on the gym bike at the Beckenham training ground at 7am most days for an hour’s workout, usually with his assistant Dave Kemp. His assiduous nature rubs off on his players and they have responded to his training ground methods. He doesn’t suffer fools gladly.

“It’s been a remarkable turnaround and everyone at the club deserves a lot of credit. They’ve bought into it and it’s got results,” said Pulis. “That doesn’t just happen. They’ve stomached a lot of weeks without having days off. We’re an exciting team and we’ve played some really really good football.” “Everybody was telling me not to do it” (manage Palace) he smiled. “It was only Peter Coates and Sir Alex Ferguson. They were the two that said there’s plenty of games left to do it.”

There is an air of authority about Pulis, a man of immense stature after his managerial grounding with Gillingham and Portsmouth before his career really got going with Stoke. He is proud of his record that he has never been relegated as a manager, something he reminded his players with an impromptu speech that broke up their lunch on his first day in charge. Credit should also go to Steve Parish and the Palace board (Stephen Browett, Martin Long and Jeremy Hosking) after they appointed Pulis last November. In an era when every coach going claims the team will soon be playing football like Barcelona, Pulis knew hard work and structure was the only way out of relegation danger.

The heroics of Pulis has assured crystal palace one more season in the premier league and the team could well finish in the top half if it wins the rest of its matches. This man is all set to go down in the history books as the mastermind of one of the most remarkable turnovers in premier league football and certainly he has all the takings of being a great manager in the future.