UK Edition
Tony Pulis: This season has been a success even if Middlesbrough do not make Championship play-offs
Tony Pulis will not make a decision on his future at Middlesbrough until he has discussed his plan for next season with owner Steve Gibson, even if they get into the Championship play-offs this weekend.
Boro need to beat already-relegated Rotherham on Saturday and hope Derby County fail to beat West Bromwich Albion to sneak into sixth spot.
Middlesbrough had looked certain to finish in the top six for most of the season only to lose six games on the spin in March and April.
But Pulis still believes this season has been a success, arguing that he had to stabilise the club financially after former manager Garry Monk had wasted millions in the transfer market following relegation from the Premier League in 2017.
Gibson has chastised several Championship clubs, including play-off rivals Aston Villa and Derby, for abusing Financial Fair Play regulations, but has been unable to get enough support behind him to change the way the rules are enforced.
“It all depends on which way you look at it,” said Pulis, when asked how he assessed his first full season on Teesside. “If you look at it from a financial point of view, then we’re £40 million in profit from sales since I came to the football club, and we’ve cut the wage bill by a quarter or a third.
“The playing staff have been reduced by about nine, and that’s got us into a position where we’re in line with all the Financial Fair Play regulations. We’ve done all of that, and still have a chance of getting into the play-offs.
“If you look at the other side, Derby have spent a fortune and Aston Villa have spent a fortune. Lots of other teams in the division have spent loads of money.
“We played Nottingham Forest the other week – we’d sold players for over £50m, Nottingham Forest had bought players in that squad that played us for over £56m. So, there was a £100m deficit in what the two clubs had done this season. But nobody talks about that. That’s fact.”
Pulis is notoriously difficult to extract information from and he is playing his cards typically close to his chest when asked whether he will trigger a one-year extension to his contract in the summer. He even joked that he had not discussed the matter with his wife and that she would also have to wait until he has talked to Gibson.
He added: “I haven’t made my mind up until I speak to Steve. If people want to take that a certain way, that’s up to them. I’ll be talking to Steve. I have tremendous respect for the chairman, as a chairman and as a person. So, I won’t be discussing it with anyone else – not even my wife at the moment.
“I’ve got a great relationship with Steve. I find him a really honest and genuine person. The money that he’s put into this football club in his time here is just extraordinary. And into the area.
“He’s a local lad who’s made good, and he wants to invest and reinvest in this area and this football club. The supporters should realise how fortunate and lucky they are to have someone like Steve.
“My respect has always been for the person who has been doing all this, and that’s Steve Gibson. I’ll speak to Steve before I make any decision.”