Editing Tony Pulis (section)

==Playing career==
Pulis began his career at [[Bristol Rovers F.C.|Bristol Rovers]] where he joined their school of football excellence in [[Eastville, Bristol|Eastville]] from [[Newport YMCA A.F.C.|Newport YMCA]]. Pulis cites his time at Eastville as an excellent grounding with his Rovers teammate and friend [[Ian Holloway]] also making it in football management. "We learned our trade at a football club with really, really good people who had old fashioned values, I truly believe that it's because of the way we were brought up back then that we have managed to go on and achieve what we have done in the game. The basic principles were drilled into us, both on and off the pitch. Nothing was given to us and we had to work very, very hard for everything we got."<ref>{{cite web|title='Our Excellent Grounding' – Pulis|url=http://origin-www.stokecityfc.com/page/NewsDetail/0,,10310~2240276,00.html|work=Stoke City F.C.|access-date=19 December 2011|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110504205934/http://www.stokecityfc.com/page/NewsDetail/0,,10310~2240276,00.html|archive-date=4 May 2011}}</ref>

Pulis made 85 league appearances for the ''Pirates'' before leaving to join [[Hong Kong]] club [[Happy Valley AA]] in 1982. The club finished second in the [[1981–82 Hong Kong First Division League|Hong Kong First Division League]] and won the [[Hong Kong Senior Challenge Shield]] in his eight-month stint with the club.<ref name=":0">{{Cite web|title=Hongkong 1982/83|url=https://www.rsssf.org/tablesh/hk83.html|access-date=2021-02-21|website=Rsssf.com}}</ref><ref name=":1">{{Cite book |last=Lee |first=David |url=https://www.worldcat.org/oclc/913788568 |title=Triffic! Tony Pulis : his 40 years in football. |date=2014 |isbn=978-0-9929769-0-3 |pages=10 |publisher=Proverbial |oclc=913788568}}</ref> He then returned to Rovers the following year and made a further 45 league appearances before moving to his home town club [[Newport County A.F.C.|Newport County]] in 1984. At Newport, Pulis became a popular member of the squad and his former County teammate [[David Giles (footballer)|David Giles]] believes Pulis was always destined for top-level management.<ref>{{cite news|title=Pulis was always destined for top-level management, says former team-mate|url=http://www.mirrorfootball.co.uk/news/Stoke-boss-Tony-Pulis-was-always-destined-for-top-level-management-says-former-team-mate-article732346.html|work=Daily Mirror|access-date=20 December 2011}}</ref>{{better source needed|reason=tabloid|date=December 2020}}

With County struggling financially, [[Harry Redknapp]] signed Pulis at [[AFC Bournemouth]], spending three years at [[Dean Court]] before joining [[Gillingham F.C.|Gillingham]] in 1989 for £10,000 on a three-year deal. Gillingham manager [[Damien Richardson (footballer)|Damien Richardson]] had envisaged utilising Pulis as a [[Defender (association football)#Sweeper (libero)|sweeper]] but his time in Kent was blighted by an injury suffered in a pre-season friendly against West Ham, limiting him to just 16 appearances. After contemplating a career outside of football and studying for a small business qualification Pulis returned to Bournemouth a year later for a fee of £15,000 to take up a player/coach role.<ref>{{Cite book |last=Lee |title=Triffic! Tony Pulis : his 40 years in football |pages=24–25}}</ref><ref>{{NeilBrownPlayers|player/tonypulis}}</ref> He made 16 appearances, scoring one goal, while in this role.<ref name="vital"/>