Stoke City News 24/7Writer: Ryan Kalisz 
Date:Tuesday August 9 2011
Time: 7:00PM
UK time is: 06:12:48
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Pulis Insulted by Irish
Tony Pulis has blown his baseball cap and blasted the Irish FA after they insisted on checking on the fitness of Jon Walters and Marc Wilson themselves.
The FAI adamantly made the duo travel from the Potteries to Ireland for their fitness tests, despite the fact that Tony had already informed them of their lack of fitness. He insisted that they were unable to play for the Republic of Ireland ahead of the clash with Croatia at the Aviva Stadium on Wednesday, but that didn`t appear to be substantial enough information for them.
After completing their own checks, they acknowledged that Pulis was indeed right. Reports revealed that that both players were indeed unfit for the game and they were sent back to Stoke for treatment.
A fuming Pulis was disgusted by the lack of trust the Irish FA had in his professionalism, and the impact the round trip to Dublin may have on the players' recovery, with the start of the new season just days away.
Tony told Sky Sports News: 'Our medical people say flying over to Ireland and back, plus staying in a hotel for the night, won't have done them any good
"It makes it a longer and more difficult process for us to get the players fit for Sunday.
"They are only friendly games and we are paying their wages.
"Our supporters want them to be fit for Sunday. The Irish supporters are not paying for them in a game that's a meaningless fixture.
"To take them away from their professional clubs a week before the season starts cannot be right.'
It is rather undermining to say the least! Tony evidently isn`t happy and I don`t blame him personally. Underhanded tricks such as lying about players` fitness to their national teams in order to keep them fresh for club fixtures isn`t Pulis` style, but what they did makes it seem that they believe that could be a case for the Welshman. He is a professional man who does everything by the book and wouldn`t dream of doing anything otherwise, so it`s clearly an insult and a waste of flight fuel only for the FAI to confirm what they were told in the first place.
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Your Comments
To be fair, many fans cry out for this sort of thing to happen with English players when Alex Fer...I mean their club manager rules them out of fixtures, so it's a little rich to get wound up when an FA actually decides to go through with it. I have sympthy for Stoke in this instance because Pulis has been proved to be a man of his word, but I'm also glad someone has taken this stand on clubs ruling their players out of internationals. Score one for the usually muppet-like FAI.
Naoise
The incident seems a bit Irish to me. I agree you Naoise, but they should check up on the biggest culprits, not honest managers like our Tone
BigMamasHouse
There's no need to get shirty TP, just accept it because there are managers that do that sort of thing
tonys_baseball_cap
There are managers that lie about their players fitness.Wenger? Yes.Benitez? Yes.Mourinho? No.Pulis? No.
Dannism
Tony wouldn't lie about the fitness, and from his perspective, it's an insult as it clearly shows they don't trust him. But like Dannism says, with Wenger and Benitez, along with Sir Red-Nose-of Fergie Naoise alomst (not quite technically) pointed out, then international teams have to be careful. Thing is, they've targeted the wrong manager.
Ryan Kalisz
'We are paying their wages'.... the mantra of the small minded. Interesting that is never quoted as and when these players are put up for sale at inflated prices...'cos they're internationals'.
lordjohnny
Dannism I don't want to drag the wonderful debates you insist on inflicting on us over at VLiverpool onto another club's page, but I really can't let that sly attempt of yours to claim that Mourinho didn't pull England players out of international duty slide by. It's balls and you know it.
Naoise
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