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- Former Stoke, Crystal Palace, West Brom and Middlesbrough boss Tony Pulis headlines the latest Jeff Stelling Show with OLBG
- Pulis reveals he would have taken Harry Kane AND Jude Bellingham off in the England World Cup semi-final defeat to Argentina
- Also lifts the lid on Sir Alex Ferguson's fortress advice, the tracksuit team talk that produced Stoke's 5-0 FA Cup semi-final win, and issues an urgent warning about released academy players and mental health
The latest episode of The Jeff Stelling Show, brought to you by OLBG, is out now and Tony Pulis is on form.
Across a wide-ranging hour, the 1,000-plus games manager and former Premier League Manager of the Year gives Jeff his verdict on the World Cup, the state of the modern game, the state of the modern academy, and how a piece of Sir Alex Ferguson advice shaped one of the great Premier League survival stories.
"I'd have taken Kane and Bellingham off" Pulis's brutal World Cup semi-final verdict
The most striking football moment of the episode is Pulis's verdict on the substitutions in England's World Cup semi-final defeat to Argentina.
He is careful to acknowledge that hindsight is easy, "everybody's got a view after the event", but does not duck the big call.
"I'd have taken Kane off and Bellingham. I thought the two of them were empty at that time of the game."
He is honest, too, about the courage it would have taken. "It would have been a massive call. He would have got absolutely hammered if it had fallen flat. But he got hammered anyway."
Sir Alex's fortress advice and how it built Stoke
The best story of the episode arrives when Pulis relives being newly promoted to the Premier League with Stoke and picking up the phone to Sir Alex Ferguson. The advice was blunt and unforgettable.
"He said, 'I've watched you, Tone. You're not going to win many games away from home, so one thing you have to do is make the Britannia a fortress. Whichever way you decide to do it, make sure you do it in a way that none of the top teams come out of a game actually praising you.'"
"If they're praising you," Pulis explains, "I'll tell you now, they've beaten you. And that's stuck with me."
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But keep Tuchel "No, they shouldn't change him"
Crucially, Pulis is not calling for Thomas Tuchel to go. Asked directly whether the FA should replace him, his answer is unambiguous: "No, they shouldn't. If they've given him a long-term contract they should now keep him on and let him get on with the job."
He also flags concerns from earlier in the tournament, including Tuchel's midfield reshuffle against Norway which he felt "left England exposed in midfield" until it was corrected ten minutes later.
But the message is consistent: back the manager, learn the lessons, move on.
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The message every football club needs to hear on academy mental health
The most powerful passage of the episode is a serious one, and it deserves the widest possible audience.
Pulis speaks with real feeling about the mental health crisis surrounding academy players who are released, and the pathways, or lack of them, that are put in place for young players from as early as six years old.
"We've got too many kids coming out who are empty. They've given everything, and their parents have as well… and people have committed suicide. There have been lots and lots of bad cases that have happened, and we have an enormous responsibility as an association to look after those kids in a better way."
His call is for a dual pathway to be introduced from 13 or 14, so that when a player is released, they have something they enjoy waiting for them on the other side. It is a section every parent of an academy player should hear.
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