Tony Pulis: UK is the best footballing country in the world

“This country, in my opinion, is the best organised and best run footballing country in the world.”

A bold claim. However, this isn’t the opinion from a conversation between friends down the pub, this is the view of a former Premier League manager of the season, Tony Pulis.

The former Stoke City, Crystal Palace and West Brom manager carved out a formidable career with a clear style of play, a reputation of getting results and the honour of never being relegated in a managerial career spanning three decades. Now, he’s determined to use his knowledge to help improve the country’s academy system through the introduction of an independent body that focuses on an alternative career.

“The greatest change has been over the last 15 years when Lilleshall came in and the national school started taking kids away from clubs and training them, as they were deemed to be a group of the best players.

“Other clubs then wanted to have a similar ‘Lilleshall-style’ system in place where they’d set their own academies up. Now you have 91 clubs from Category A to Category four, running academies.”

Lilleshall, in Shropshire, is the national sports centre and between 1984-1999 the Football Association established its ‘School of Excellence’ at the site. The academy model produced at Lilleshall is now replicated at most professional clubs, helping to produce quality players all over the country.

Tony, 67, accredits the centre for helping to develop his own coaching philosophy, after obtaining his FA coaching badge at just 19-years-old, and his UEFA A licence at 21.

“The opportunity of professional football was given to me, and I didn’t want to give it up. I could see further than my nose that my playing days are relatively short, and I never wanted to move away from what would be my dream.

“I’d taken my coaching qualification’s at an early age. I was very fortunate then to be touched and to be able to watch Don Howe, Dave Sexton and Bobby Robson.

“There was a week’s course for coaches at the end of the season so I would go to Lilleshall every year and I’d be one of the youngest people there. But I’d go there to watch these top football people work.”

It’s not just the professional leagues that Tony feels has benefitted from Lilleshall’s legacy, but non-league too. A long-term resident of the Bournemouth, Poole and Christchurch area, there’s a plethora of clubs to watch at grassroots level, and Tony has witnessed his fair share of these fixtures.

“When you look at the leagues we’ve got, not just the professional leagues but the amateur leagues too, I’ve been blessed to feel that whether I’ve been down the field or watching Poole against Wimborne a couple of months ago, that the standard of football, the setup and the organisation… you just wouldn’t get it anywhere else in the world.

“Everything filters from the top to all the way through. Two, three or four non-league levels down you’re still getting very organised setups, quality football and people are desperately keen to play football every week.”

Tony has a grandson who is in a professional academy system, and should he make it as a professional, he would become the third generation of the Pulis family to have a career in the sport. However, after dedicating his life to football, Tony feels blessed to have had the career he’s had.

“It’s the greatest game in the world.”