Pulis stoked by owner’s willingness to recruit

STOKE manager Tony Pulis says it is a clear sign of the club’s ambition that they are bidding big money for new players.

And he has nothing but praise for chairman Peter Coates, a local businessman, and his family for continuing to back him with impressive financial muscle.

Pulis was set to recruit Hoffenheim striker Demba Ba at the weekend for a reported £7.1million, only for the 25-year-old to fail a medical.

Whether the deal can be resurrected for the Senegal striker, who has also been linked to West Ham, under different conditions remains to be seen.

Pulis, though, has nothing but admiration for Coates, who sanctioned an £8million move for Sunderland striker Kenwyne Jones in the summer.

Coates, who has made his fortune though an online betting company, is determined to see Stoke stay in the Barclays Premier League for a third season at least.

A 2-0 home victory against Bolton was another step in the right direction and regarding the bid for Ba, Pulis said: “It says a great deal about the Coates family and what they are prepared to do for this club.

“They have been fantastic not just for the club but for the area. Without them this club would not be where it is.

“If we stay up this season we will try to integrate our ideas and hopefully progress further. If we can do that, who knows what might happen?

“We thought it was a good deal for a young lad (Ba), who has scored a lot of goals in Germany. His wages were within our structure so everything was in place.

“But unfortunately there has been a medical problem. The deal, as we know it, is not going to go ahead.”

It was a comfortable win for Stoke with Danny Higginbotham marking his return to the team by scoring at the far post in the 37th minute after Bolton failed to deal with a corner from Tuncay.

Stuart Holden forced a good save out of Asmir Begovic at the start of the second half but that was as good as it got for the visitors.

Etherington added a second from the penalty spot in the 62nd minute. He had been tripped by Zat Knight as he raced on to a ball from Tuncay.

Bolton are suffering a dip in form after a bright start to the season - this was their fifth successive defeat on the road.

Coyle is now looking forward to two home games against Chelsea and Wolves and to getting back on track.

He said: “If you look at all these away games, we could have got points from them but there were one or two players missing that sharpness and that’s what we need to get back.

“We were quite flush with numbers because we had 17, as opposed to the 15 we’ve had in recent weeks.

“So we’ve got to come into training with a smile, work hard and look to replicate the performances we showed prior to those games.

“We have two big home matches coming up and we have to make sure we are ready for them.”