PHOTO:AFP
West Bromwich Albion manager Tony Pulis called Ryan Shawcross, captain of his former club Stoke City, a “loser” in a voicemail message, according to Stoke manager Mark Hughes.
Shawcross had accused West Brom of leaking the news that Saido Berahino had served an eight-week ban for failing a drugs test prior to joining Stoke from West Brom last month.
West Brom won 1-0 when the teams met at The Hawthorns in the Premier League last weekend and Hughes claims Pulis insulted Shawcross in a voicemail message left on Monday.
“We were annoyed with a number things,” Hughes said, in comments published in British newspapers on Saturday.
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“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.”
Hughes did not receive a handshake from fellow Welshman Pulis after last weekend’s game, which saw Berahino make his second Stoke appearance as a second-half substitute.
Berahino joined Stoke for £12 million ($15 million, 14.1 million euros) last month, having served his ban earlier in the season after reportedly testing positive for a recreational drug.
Speaking on Friday, Pulis did not mention leaving a voicemail message, but said Shawcross, who played under him at Stoke, had tried to contact him.
“Ryan has tried to ring me since that (the quotes on Berahino) and I will get back to him,” said Pulis, who had two spells as Stoke manager from 2002-2005 and 2006-2013.
Source: G Sport
