Sheffield Wednesday owner on why ‘worst manager’ Tony Pulis had to go

Pulis has kept his counsel on his sacking, but owner Chansiri has put his side of the story behind it, the second time an Owls manager has been dismissed this season, calling him “unprofessional” and the worst manager he had employed.

He says he is looking to make an appointment “as soon as possible” but “he needs to be the right one”. He added there have already been many applications for the vacant post and he will be allowed to make transfers, with talks starting under Pulis and continuing despite his sacking.

Chansiri claimed he was persuaded against sacking Pulis after “five or six” games, only for the manager to contact him to say he thought someone else would be a better fit, and suggest a departure by mutual consent.

“He is the worst (manager) in my club, trying to create a lot of trouble,” said Chansiri.

“That made me think he shouldn’t stay any longer because he could damage my club. I made the decision to go to (Neil) Thompson (as caretaker manager).”

Chansiri claimed communication with Pulis was not as it should have been, but blamed Pulis, claiming he had been transparent in the job interview about what was required, and the manager had said he could work with the squad playing the way Chansiri wanted, only to decide it was not fit for purpose shortly afterwards.

He also criticised Pulis for not speaking to him directly, preferring to text and email.

“I interviewed him a year before but I think at that time it was not right,” said Chansiri. “I was not convinced about his style of play.

“This time I thought he had experience and we needed someone strong and we needed to stay up and then try to get into the play-offs and he convinced me he could do that with the squad we had.

“I told him I don’t like the old English style but he told me he wouldn’t play like that, his tactics would depend on the opponents.”

Chansiri said matters came to a head after Pulis’s only win, at home to Coventry City in his penultimate game.

“I told him at the beginning he should talk to me or report to me at least once a week but he didn’t do that,” said Chansiri. “I texted him otherwise he wouldn’t talk to me.

“Then sent me an email. He said to me he felt the team, the club and I would be better served in our ambitions by a different style of manager. He said it would be entirely wrong of him to wait a few months.

“He said the squad was not buying (into) his methods.

“Because I’d thought about it a while ago before he talked to me, it made me think now I didn’t need to wait (to sack him). We arranged to talk after the (Coventry) game.

“I was waiting for the call, even though it was already late in Thailand, so I asked my people to ask him if he wanted to have a phone call or not. He told my people, ‘Okay, forget it, no meeting today.’

“We had a phone call a few days ago. He said maybe it would be better to keep a good relationship by (reaching an agreement for Pulis to leave by) mutual consent.

“His lawyers sent me a proposal but it made him look good and me look bad. I told my people to tell him I would ask my lawyer to do a simple mutual consent (agreement). In Thailand it’s a holiday and on Monday morning I spoke to my lawyer but he needed to go to hospital so I had to take more time. He got mad, saying he needed an answer now otherwise it would not look good to the players in training.

“He said to my people if the chairman didn’t answer now he couldn’t be in charge tomorrow. He would call in sick. He’d been in football almost 30 years (as a manager). How unprofessional!”

Pulis said after what proved to be his final game, a draw at Blackburn Rovers, he had so far been unable to arrange the meeting he had planned with Chansiri to assess the club after a month, but he has not spoken publicly since his sacking on Monday night.