Stoke legend Tony Pulis reveals Premier League club’s brutal tactic to stop Rory Delap’s iconic long throws
TONY PULIS has lifted the lid on how one Premier League club tried a brutal tactic to stop Rory Delap’s iconic long throws.
Pulis, 66, managed Delap at Stoke between 2006 and 2013.
Under him the Potters became notoriously tough to play against, especially at the Britannia Stadium – changed to the bet365 Stadium in 2016.
One tactic in particular often caused the downfall of opponents, a mighty long throw in from central midfielder Delap.
Speaking on William Hill‘s No Tippy Tappy Football podcast, Pulis said: “The story about Rory [Delap] is that we got promoted and I didn’t even know he had a long throw.
“Right at the beginning of the season, the lads were having a bet about who could throw it the furthest and Rory threw it off the pitch!
“He was a javelin thrower for Carlisle, and we spent quite a lot of time working on him throwing the ball flat towards the near post. It was fantastic for us.”
Indeed, the former Republic of Ireland international’s throw was so potent that teams sensationally preferred to give away a corner to Stoke rather than deal with the long throw.
This was something former England, West Ham and Bolton manager Sam Allardyce, who was appearing on the podcast alongside Pulis, confirmed himself.
However, West Ham came up with an inventive way to try and nullify Delap’s deadly throw-ins.
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Pulis continued: “I remember it when Gianfranco Zola was the manager at West Ham and we played them away on a Monday night and we got to the ground and they’d moved the boards to the edge of the box so we couldn’t do a long throw.”
But as Pulis revealed, Delap was no deterred by the move.
Pulis added: “We were out on the pitch, and I was a bit worried but Rory came up to me and goes ‘Gaffer, it’s not an issue.’
“So, the first throw we had, he threw it from behind the board and we scored from it.”
Delap would leave Stoke in 2013, the same year as Pulis, and join Burton Albion on a free transfer.
But following a major hamstring injury, Delap called time on his career in December of the same year.
The 47-year-old moved in coaching in 2016 with a role in Derby’s academy.
He then returned to Stoke as a first-team coach in 2018 before taking caretaker charge for one game in November 2019 before Michael O’Neil was appointed.
Delap eventually left his role at Stoke in 2023 before heading to Israeli club Maccabi Tel Aviv as an assistant to Robbie Keane.
The pair were evacuated from the Israel to Greece after reportedly hiding in a panic room during the October 2023 Gaza–Israel conflict.
Meanwhile, Pulis went on to manage Crystal Palace, West Brom and Middlesbrough and Sheffield Wednesday.
He has been without a job since December 2020.