Jonathan Woodgate lasted only 19 minutes of Stoke’s trip to Wolves in 2011 despite not being injured – then gave a comical reaction to manager Tony Pulis.
Pulis, chatting on the Undr The Cosh podcast, spoke about memorable tales from his managerial career which included 333 games in a second Stoke spell between 2006 and 2013.
In 2011, Pulis had former Real Madrid and Tottenham defender Woodgate in his ranks, but one of his 21 appearances ended early thanks to a battle with Matty Jarvis.
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Pulis said: “We played Wolves away. Jonathan fouled Matty Jarvis and got booked after about two minutes and the next time Jarvis has gone past him with Woody trying to get hold of him.
“And I thought no I can’t… we’re going to be down to 10 men soon so I just dragged him off.”
A chuckling Pulis added: “But he was brilliant! I can remember he came off and said: ‘That’s a great decision’.”
Is being subbed off after 19 minutes the ultimate humiliation? Tell us in the comments section below.
(Image: Twitter @UndrTheCosh)
Stoke went on to win 2-1 thanks to Peter Crouch, with Pulis leading Stoke to a 14th place Premier League finish with 45 points.
Having left the club in 2013, he has since had spells with Crystal Palace, West Brom, Middlesbrough and most recently Sheffield Wednesday.
Having left Middlesbrough, Woodgate ended up as his replacement having moved into management – with the exit of Pulis leaving his young son in tears.
(Image: Getty Images)
He said in 2019: “He loved Tony and used to call him gaffer. When he left, I told him and he started crying because he was gutted.
“Tony was brilliant with him and they’d play football together.
“I told him “I’m the new gaffer” and he was like: ‘Get in there, Dad’.”
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