Crystal Palace co-owner Steve Browett has quickly moved to diffuse any row with Stoke City.
Browett insists he wasn't taking aim at Stoke after comparing the two clubs this week.
"The point I made was that Stoke City are an absolute role model to Crystal Palace," he told The Sentinel, "and if we can achieve what they have done, a lot of which was down to Tony Pulis, then it would be absolutely fantastic.
"We have been in the Premier League five times altogether, but on the previous four occasions we have been relegated every time.
"What Tony (Pulis) did was to get Stoke into the Premier League and keep them there in mid-table, which is what Crystal Palace aspire to do.
"From how I was originally quoted, it came across that Crystal Palace are a bigger and better club than Stoke. It came across as arrogant and was not what I meant at all."
