Stoke boss Tony Pulis has hit back at newspaper stories on Tuesday claiming he is considering his future at the Britannia Stadium. "On transfer fees and money spent on the first team, nobody can question the Coates family on the amount of money they have invested in this football club," he said.

"Anybody who says anything else is being disrespectful to a family that should be held in high esteem.

"As I have said before, my relationship with Peter is not just a football relationship, but a personal relationship as well. I class him as a friend, and I mean a friend."

Pulis also dismissed suggestions he was at odds with the club's hierarchy over the Stoke City Academy because it was draining resources from first-team affairs.

"I have got reservations on the way it is run, yes, but every football club that is successful up and down the country has to have a vibrant and progressive youth policy," he added.

"It was me who brought in Denis Smith and Alan Durban into our Academy, to get more people with a football background and a local knowledge involved."