Stoke City manager Tony Pulis escapes driving ban because sick kids and Stoke-on-Trent need him
SO. Why has spikey Stoke City manager and Bournemouth local Tony Pulis not been banned from driving. He had 15 point on his licence. The matter was important enough to occupy minds at Leamington Magistrates’ Court.
Tony Pulis was recorded travelling his BMW 530DM at 96mph along a 60mph-stretch of the M42 motorway on November 6 2011.
The Stoke Sentinel reports:
Pulis has escaped a ban after his lawyer argued it would have caused the manager, Stoke City and the people of Stoke-on-Trent exceptional hardship.
People of Stoke need a speeding driver to drag them from the gutter?
And Pulis warned he could not hire a chauffeur because his confidential phone conversations could be leaked and potentially scupper major transfer deals.
Try texting, Tony. Or waiting until you’re out of the car to conduct delicate phone calls. It might even be better than using the hands free while zipping alone in your motor.
Says Pulis:
“I’m in control of over 100 employees. I deal directly with the chairman and his son; it’s very unique in that respect. They’re concerned about the circus of media which follows football clubs. A lot of the success of the club is because a lot of deals have been kept within the football club until we have to disclose them. We try to keep it that way.”
So…? Hire a trusted club worker to drive you around?
“We signed Peter Crouch in the summer without anyone knowing. That took almost four days of non-stop conversations between us and Tottenham and Peter and the like. If other clubs had found out, they would have been attracted and might have signed him before us. I have my staff who I trust implicitly, but there are things I wouldn’t even discuss with them.”
So much for implicit trust at Stoke City.
Pulis had nine points on his licence when he was caught speeding and handed 6 more. If privacy and being the only ears in his car was so vital to his team, why speed?
And then he says the sickly chidlren at the Donna Louise Children’s Hospice Trust, at Trentham Lakes, will suffer is Tony can’t drive.
Pulis’s lawyer, Mike Stephenson, tells magistrates, that Pulis’s driving is linked to the city’s success:
“A number of them are totally reliant on Stoke City, and those businesses would suffer if they were relegated. The people of Stoke-on-Trent could suffer if Mr Pulis lost his licence and lost his job.”
Pulis is fined £2,500 fine and ordered to pay £85 costs.
Pathetic.
Posted: 22nd, March 2012 | In: Sports Comment | TrackBack | Permalink
