Tony Pulis blasts claims he misled Crystal Palace over £2m bonus after being told to repay £3.8m
West Brom boss vows to repair his tarnished reputation being branded a liar in court
TONY PULIS has hit back at being branded a LIAR in court and refused to rule out a further fight to clear his name.
Speaking for the first time after being hit with an eye-watering £6million bill following a legal row with Crystal Palace, the West Brom boss vowed to battle to repair his tarnished image.
"One day, and it can't be now, but one day hopefully I'll get the chance to actually pick this through with everybody,” revealed the 58-year-old Welshman.
“I know a lot of people, friends, family, people in this room and others - I'll let them judge my integrity and character.
“I can't say too much. I've been advised by lawyers not to say too much at this present moment, but there will come a time.
"Obviously I've got to bite my tongue a little bit at the moment. I'm really disappointed with the outcome, strenuously deny what has been said.
“But it's been done. I have to move on …… we have to move on.”
Pulis was due a £2m bonus if he kept Palace up while remaining manager until August 31, 2014. But he asked for the cash early to purchase land for his children — and then quit two days later on August 14, on the eve of the new season.
Palace owner Steve Parish proved beyond doubt the Welshmen was not telling the truth leaving Pulis’s reputation in tatters.
It was the costliest defeat of Pulis’s long and distinguished career, which has spanned more than 1,000 games as a boss.
The tribunal concluded it was satisfied Pulis intended to give the club the “false impression” he had a pressing need for the money for the land purchase — and that “he knew or was reckless to the fact that the impression he was giving to the club was a false one”.
High Court judge Sir Michael Burton said: “The Tribunal found the Claimant had deliberately sought to deceive with his claims about needing the bonus early in order to buy land for his children.”
In their report earlier this year the arbitrators slammed Pulis. They said: “By any standards his conduct (prior to and during the litigation) has been shown to be disgraceful.”
Pulis kept his side of the bargain by keeping Palace in the top flight, finishing 11th – but walked out early and therefore failed to fulfil the full terms of his bonus payment.
This morning, at his weekly West Brom press briefing Pulis said: “I had 10 fantastic months at Crystal Palace.
"The first game I went and watched was at Hull when they had three points from 11 games and then that season we finished 11th in the league. It was a fantastic achievement, the players were brilliant, the supporters were fantastic.
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"They're great memories for me and nothing will take that away from me. But I've got to move on. I've got a massive job here, a job I'm enjoying, we're flying at the moment, we've had a real good run.
“There's plenty of confidence at West Brom at the moment, the supporters are enjoying it, which is really good as well. That's important.”
Asked if he planned a further appeal, Pulis replied: “That's all I want to say at the moment. Let's move on to football and West Bromwich Albion which is much more important to me.”