Tony Pulis: 'I feel cheated' as Stoke demand FA Cup justice after Man City verdict
Pulis: 'When do we get our FA Cup?'
Former Stoke City manager Tony Pulis has launched a scathing rebuke of Manchester City following the club's verdict on breaching financial rules, declaring that he feels “cheated” out of the 2011 FA Cup final.
“When do we get our FA Cup?” Pulis wrote in his BBC Sport column. “That is what all Stoke City fans have been asking me since the news broke on Friday that Manchester City had been found guilty of breaking the majority of the 115 financial rules they have been accused of breaching. I thought exactly the same. While the process is far from over because Manchester City are expected to appeal, I have to say this verdict and the whole situation has left a very sour taste in my mouth.”
A day that belonged to Stoke
Taking his Stoke side to the 2011 FA Cup final was, in Pulis's words, one of the highlights – if not the highlight – of his 50 years in football as a player and manager. He recalled the atmosphere at Wembley vividly.
“Think back now, and I can still picture walking out before kick-off to see our end of the ground decked in red and white and hear the amazing rendition of Delilah from our supporters,” he said. “Many of those fans had come from all corners of the world, and had spent or borrowed fortunes to make it, just to say: 'I was there.'”
For Pulis, the occasion was made all the more special by the presence of the Coates family, Stoke's owners, who have financed the club across decades. “For Peter, Denise, John and all the family and friends who in good times and bad found the money and spirit to back the club, it was their one day in the sun,” he wrote. “It was the same for all of us connected with Stoke. This was our day, that day that many smaller clubs and their fans pray for.”
Outspent and outgunned
Stoke lost the final 1-0 to a Manchester City side then on the cusp of an era of domestic dominance. The financial gulf was stark: Yaya Toure, who scored the winning goal, was reportedly earning 10 times what Stoke paid any of their players and, on his own, had cost more than the entire Stoke starting XI when he signed from Barcelona in 2010 for around £24m.
“Although we lost 1-0, our players were fantastic and gave, as always, a fully committed performance against the odds,” Pulis said. “After the game, my disappointment was buried in the fact we had played a team full of superstars, and faced an elite coach in Roberto Mancini, and had just fallen short. Today, I feel very differently, as I am sure people connected with the other clubs affected by City's successes in the same period, between 2009 and 2018, do too.”
'We won't ever get that day back'
With Manchester City now found guilty of breaking the financial rules set out by the Premier League, Pulis argues the verdict reframes that defeat. “We lost, but to a team that have been found guilty of breaking the financial rules set out by the Premier League,” he wrote. “In doing so, they did not just beat Stoke in an FA Cup final, they collected a stack of titles and went on to completely dominate English football for more than a decade.”
So what does Pulis want to happen? “Well, I know all Stoke supporters will be demanding that City pass the trophy over and every club that has been affected by their actions will be considering their legal options,” he said. “I don't expect Manchester City to phone me or the club up and offer back the 2011 FA Cup and the winners' medals their players received. I don't seriously believe any other trophies and titles will be handed back over either. A points deduction and a massive fine feels far more likely. But I still feel cheated.”
He closed with a poignant reflection on what was lost: “Whatever happens next, we won't ever get that day back and the chance to celebrate around Stoke-on-Trent with the cup and medals we so honestly fought for. After breaking the rules, Manchester City got to do that instead.”
Tony Pulis was speaking to BBC Sport's Chris Bevan.