The West Bromwich Albion manager did an extraordinary job in his brief spell at Selhurst Park, taking over a team that had taken just four points from their first 11 games and guiding them to 11th in the table by the end of the season — thanks to a closing eight-game spell that saw Palace win five in succession and lose just once. Continue
But a bitter dispute developed in the wake of Pulis’s sudden and unexpected departure in August 2014, with co-chairman Steve Parish and his fellow club owners demanding the return of the bonus money they paid only two days earlier.
It concluded with an independent tribunal constituted under Premier League rules, with Pulis losing out badly. As well as the £2m he must pay — half of which will be returned in tax — the 58-year-old Welshman may also have to pay a further £1million in legal costs and damages for breach of contract.
Sportsmail understands Pulis is now considering an appeal, believing he was due the money whatever the circumstances of the payment and his departure.
His relationship with Parish had deteriorated over the club’s transfer dealings with Pulis also thought to have had problems with then sporting director Iain Moody, who was forced to resign days later for his part in the racist, sexist and homophobic messages scandal involving former Cardiff manager Malky Mackay.
But the complaint from Palace concerned the circumstances in which they paid the bonus money to their manager, with Pulis asking for it to be paid early so he could purchase a property near his Dorset home for his son.
Pulis, it is understood, received the money on August 12 only to resign two days later ‘by mutual consent’. Sources say the money was due on August 31, but Palace were angry that having requested the payment early he then left the club without a manager before the start of the new campaign.
Parish and his colleagues were certainly aggrieved, highlighting the fact that Pulis did not eventually purchase the property he had requested the money for.
This detail, it is believed, was central to Palace’s case.
It has also been reported that there was a loyalty element to the bonus; that the payment of £2m was dependent on Pulis staying at the club until at least the first competitive game of the following season. Understandably, Pulis’s allies make the point that had that been the case he surely would have held on for a further 48 hours to avoid jeopardising the bonus money.
Pulis, who was unavailable for comment, did do an astonishing job for Palace after taking over from Ian Holloway on November 23, 2013 on a two-and-a-half-year contract.
He was at the KC Stadium for an important win away at Hull and then guided his new team to a precious victory at home to West Ham on December 3.
In the January transfer window he then brought in Tom Ince on loan while signing Joe Ledley, Scott Dann, Jason Puncheon and Wayne Hennessey.
A series of victories over Chelsea, Cardiff, Aston Villa, Everton and West Ham followed, with Pulis named as manager of the month for the April and Premier League manager of the year at the end of the season.
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