West Bromwich Albion’s ascent offers Tony Pulis chance for added value

• Survival specialist has a consistent record of maximising scant resources
• He has never finished in Premier League’s top half despite successes at Stoke

Tony Pulis may not wish to dwell on financial matters after his costly loss in the high court last week but there is at least one calculation of which he can be proud. If transfer expenditure is factored into the amount of points won by each Premier League club this season, then Pulis is the highest-performing manager.

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West Bromwich Albion made a net spend of around £12m in the summer and after their win against Watford on Saturday they sit seventh in the league. When asked about this timely reminder of his ability to maximise resources, Pulis smiled and said: “If you look at the last eight or nine years, in terms of pounds per points gained as a manager, I’m top of that as well – but I don’t like to talk about it.”

Pulis, famously, has never been relegated during nearly three decades as a manager. What is less well known is that for all his success, even at Stoke City, whom he led to the 2011 FA Cup final and qualification for the Europa League, he has never finished in the top half of the Premier League table.

“If you speak to people at Stoke and ask: ‘Would you have preferred Tony to finish in the top 10 or take us to a Cup final and finish in the last 16 in Europe and go to Valencia and places likes that’, I know what they’d say.”

Having reached new heights with Albion, Pulis is trying to figure out how to stay there. He knows how quickly fortunes can change, as his team have provided proof in recent weeks. “Before the Leicester game [on 6 November] we looked at the table and were fourth from bottom and had been sucked right back in because we played last,” the captain, Darren Fletcher, said. “But we responded to that.”

The 2-1 victory at Leicester was the start of a run that has yielded 10 points from four matches. They had to work hard to extend that against Watford. Jonny Evans headed the first goal before Chris Brunt fired in the second with the aid of a deflection. Christian Kabasele pulled one back in the second half but after Watford had Roberto Pereyra sent off for pushing James McClean, Matt Philips secured victory for Albion. Their next assignment is at Chelsea, who have hit strong form themselves. Something will have to give.