Skip to main content

Hughes accuses Pulis of phoning Shawcross to call him a loser

The tension between Mark Hughes and Tony Pulis shows no sign of dissipating after the Stoke City boss accused his West Brom counterpart of phoning Ryan Shawcross to call him a "loser".

Relations between Stoke and West Brom have become strained in recent weeks following Saido Berahino's transfer from The Hawthorns to Stoke in January.

The release of that information by Hughes frustrated Pulis and there was no handshake between the Welsh duo following West Brom's 1-0 win seven days ago.

Hughes fuelled what is developing into a bitter feud by alleging Pulis has since been in touch with Stoke captain Shawcross to call him a "loser".

"We were annoyed with a number of things," Hughes said.

"I was annoyed with their manager ringing up Ryan on the Monday morning after the game and calling him a loser. I wasn't too happy with that.

"Any number of things surrounding the game were, in our view, unnecessary.

"There was a voicemail left, and I haven't heard it. But Ryan wasn't too pleased. He tried to ring back and didn't get any answer."