Former Sheffield Wednesday boss speculates over clash between Tony Pulis and Dejphon Chansiri

A clash of personalities could be behind Tony Pulis' shock departure from Sheffield Wednesday, according to former Hillsborough boss Brian Laws.
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Pulis was sacked on Monday night only 45 days after replacing Garry Monk, having won one of his 10 games in charge.

Laws, who left the Owls by mutual consent in 2009 after three years as manager, said there appeared to have been a breakdown in the relationship between Pulis and club owner Dejphon Chansiri.

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"Knowing Tony like I do, he's a straight talker and he hits you between the eyes," Laws said.

Sheffield Wednesday sacked Tony Pulis on Monday night after just 45 days in the jobSheffield Wednesday sacked Tony Pulis on Monday night after just 45 days in the job
Sheffield Wednesday sacked Tony Pulis on Monday night after just 45 days in the job

"He'll tell you the truth and if you don't like it, that's tough. Maybe it was too much medicine for Chansiri to take.

"But I always had in the back of my mind that Tony Pulis, he's very strong willed, strong minded, as much as Chansiri is, so it was always going to go two ways for me.

"It was either going to be a match made in heaven or it was going to end in blood and tears and we've got the latter."

Brian Laws says Tony Pulis would have been the man to get Sheffield Wednesday on the right track given time.Brian Laws says Tony Pulis would have been the man to get Sheffield Wednesday on the right track given time.
Brian Laws says Tony Pulis would have been the man to get Sheffield Wednesday on the right track given time.
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In November, the club's 12-point deduction for breaching spending rules was reduced to six points by the English Football League and Laws feels Wednesday's problems are deep-rooted.

"They've got to be for the simple reason for the last year or so it's been stop-start, inconsistency, not quite getting there," Laws said.

"But I have huge sympathy for the chairman in the amount of money he's put into the club. The return he's had is atrocious.

"So I have huge sympathy for him for that, but you've got to support your manager and I don't know what the conversations have been between them both.

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"There's clearly been a huge breakdown in what both parties want."

Former Barnsley boss Jose Morais, who has previously worked as Jose Mourinho's assistant at Chelsea, Real Madrid, Inter Milan and Porto, has been linked with the vacancy.

Gus Poyet and former Vissel Kobe boss Thorsten Fink are also among the bookmakers' favourites, but Laws insisted Pulis was the best man for the job.

"You couldn't have asked for a better person to come in and get them out of the mess," Laws added.

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"He would be top of the list. So who else are they going to look for?

"While everyone would have loved Tony to have got off to a flying start, it's deeper than that and it was always going to take longer to turn it round.

"He was slowly, but surely doing that and I'm pretty convinced he would have got Wednesday to a safe place."