Mind Games - Tony Pulis Reveals the Surprise Managerial Tricks he Used to Use

Tony Pulis' Mental Gymnastics

In the modern era of football, it appears that mental arithmetics appear to be a more dominant nous to add to the sport as time goes by.

Mikel Arteta is the cult leader on this front, of course. The Spanish Arsenal manager has utilised light bulbs, AI-generated TikTok videos and tweets from other footballers all as ways to cultivate a certain emotion in his squad. To varying levels of success, it should be said.

Gareth Ainsworth is another virally insane one as well. During his ill-fated spell in charge of QPR, the former Wycombe winger deployed a traditional Maori man to come and perform a 'Haka' dance in front of a visibly un-impressed playing squad during a team meeting. The fighting spirit envisioned from this stunt didn't quite transpire as once hoped, with the R's losing 6-1 to Blackpool not long after the event.

There are plenty more examples to dive into, of course, like Neil Warnock's famous bowling story or Mark Crossley being made to play as a ringer for a family member's Sunday League team for Brian Clough during his Nottingham Forest hay-day.

Well, Tony Pulis is the next manager on the conveyor belt to reveal the mental tips and tricks he has deployed in his time as a manager in a column provided to the BBC, including hypnotists and Al Pacino clips.

Pulis' Disappearing Squad

One example of a trick pulled by the Welshman during only his second season in football management, in charge of Bournemouth in what is now League One, was employing a hypnotist to get a feeling of his side's mentality, which didn't quite go to plan as his squad discreetly left during his act:

"We travelled up to Blackburn for the first leg on a Tuesday and, after a sleep in the afternoon, we all attended a pre-match meeting. I had a special surprise guest for the lads - a hypnotist.

"During his session he asked the team to sit in a circle on chairs, while he sat at the top of the room feeling - he believed - the vibes from the lads.

Just a great bit from Tony Pulis here pic.twitter.com/WcBf0AYLjX

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"He switched all the lights off and gave them two minutes in silence in a pitch-black room but then, when he went and turned the lights back on, all their chairs were empty. I was amazed - he had made them all disappear!"

The former West Brom and Middlesbrough coach went on to describe the events that followed ahead of their game against Blackburn, including that the stunt had taken his players' mind off the big League Cup game ahead in the way they had hoped:

"Although the team did not play their part in the exercise in the way I'd intended, it was still fantastic for our preparation because they were all still talking about the hypnotist on the bus to the match, with no pre-match tension at all.

"Blackburn had a brilliant side under Kenny Dalglish at that time and they were formidable opponents who were fighting for the Premier League title.

"We lost the game, with Alan Shearer getting the winner for Rovers, but only went out 1-0 on aggregate. The lads put in such a great performance and showed no inhibitions whatsoever - I thank the hypnotist for that.

"Sometimes though, thinking outside the box just doesn't work. I have no idea why!"

Knowing When to Stop

Pulis eventually learned the difference between a moment that requires an external kick of motivation and one that does not. This came during his time at Stoke City in 2008 when face with a crunch match on their way to promotion:

"During our promotion season at Stoke when we went up to the Premier League in 2007-08, we put together a video that showed all our goals that season to play to the squad before a crucial point of our run-in, an away trip to Coventry in April with four games to go.

"Just before kick-off, the lads sat and watched what was a really uplifting take on all the positives so far, from all the matches we had played, and the video ended with a rousing rendition from Al Pacino from the film 'Any Given Sunday', when he inspires his locker room with an incredible speech about teamwork and desire.

Big Sam and Tony Pulis talking about Rory Delap's long throw 😍

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"I felt after our players heard a speech like that, only a victory could follow, but at half-time Coventry, who were fighting relegation, were 1-0 up and we had been absolutely useless."

Pulis went on to credit Dave Kemp as being the man to snap him away from exterior incitements and focussing closer on the style of management that would matter in the long run for his squad:

"My assistant Dave Kemp was waiting for me at the dressing-room door at the break and just said, "Put those toys away and get back to being you!"

"In the second half, after a few choice words and a bit of a reset, we went out and managed to win the game 2-1 to go top of the table, with the character that team had coming again to the forefront.

"Pacino's words were unbelievable and miles better than anything I could ever muster to try to motivate my players, but it shows there is a time and a place for everything - and that time wasn't then!"