Tony Pulis loses £3.7m court battle with Crystal Palace
West Bromwich Albion manager Tony Pulis has lost a £3.7m High Court battle with former club Crystal Palace for deceiving them into paying him a £2m bonus.
West Bromwich Albion manager Tony Pulis has lost a £3.7m High Court battle with former club Crystal Palace for deceiving them into paying him a £2m bonus.
Pulis was ordered to pay £3.7m in damages to Crystal Palace for having "misled" club chairman Steve Parish.
The current West Brom manager was due a bonus of £2m for keeping Palace in the Premier League in the 2013-14 season, something which he did, but he didn't stay at the club for the required amount of time, leaving on 31 August 2014.
Pulis allegedly wanted the money early in order to be able to purchase a plot of land, but this was denied by the arbritration tribunal.
"There was in truth no pressing need for the money at all, since at no time was there a plot of land on the market which Mr Pulis was remotely close to purchasing," it said.
The panel also said that Pulis "knew or was reckless to the fact that the impression he was giving to the club was a false one" and that "His motive in doing so was to secure early payment of £2m".