Fri Apr 04, 2014 7:22 am
Cardiff City train trips as a boy mean Crystal Palace boss Tony Pulis wants Bluebirds to stay up
Apr 04, 2014 By Simon Gaskell
" We won’t be doing Cardiff any favours, but I want Cardiff to stay up "
“I want Cardiff City to stay up, of course I do," Pulis said - while emphasising his priority was to keep the Eagles in the top division
Tony Pulis says he wants to see Cardiff City stay in the Premier League after reflecting on his boyhood years growing up in South Wales.
Pulis's Crystal Palace side travel to the Cardiff City Stadium in a massive relegation six-pointer on Saturday afternoon - with City on 26 points in 18th and Palace five points better off in 16th.
Despite the obvious magnitude of the clash for both sides, 56-year-old Pulis - who was born in Newport - says time spent watching Cardiff when he was growing up means he would like them to escape trouble.
But he added given their proximity to his own team in the table, he would be doing them no favours this weekend.
Pulis said: “Ole and his players will feel a win will pull us back us back into it.
“I want Cardiff City to stay up, of course I do. That is a fantastic club in a great city. But my priority is to keep Crystal Palace in the Premier League and we won’t be doing Cardiff any favours.”
He might have enjoyed his trips to Cardiff as a boy but Pulis is a Newport man. And he is loved there,
' TONY PULIS '
“I watched Cardiff when I was a young boy. I also watched Newport. If I wasn’t playing games on Saturday, for Newport YMCA or Pill, I would jump on a train and get to watch Cardiff.
“That was when John Toshack was playing and Ian Gibson was in midfield.
“They had an extremely good team. My dad took me to watch Cardiff in a European night match against Real Madrid at Ninian Park when there were almost 50,000 people in the stadium.
“I don’t want to see Cardiff go down. It was wonderful to see them earn promotion and take their place alongside Swansea City in the Premier League.
“It was also lovely my home town, Newport, were promoted back to the Football League. It was disappointing that Wrexham missed out.
“It was a good season for Welsh football and I want them to thrive and for the nation.
“Cardiff is a great city, and, along with Palace, I hope they stay in the Premier League. There will be nothing given from us, though.
“If we can maintain the level and commitment and the football we played on the break last Saturday then we will have a great chance. But performances go up and down.
“Our match at Cardiff will be a more difficult game than the Chelsea one in lots of ways.
“We need to put in enough performances to get us over the line.
“We still have to get the points. Everyone down there is fighting. We need to get the points as quickly as we can.
Fri Apr 04, 2014 12:08 pm
Wish he was our manager insted of OGS!
Fri Apr 04, 2014 11:10 pm
Anarch0 wrote:Wish he was our manager insted of OGS!
the grass is not always greener on the other side