West Bromwich Albion manager Tony Pulis has reacted angrily after details of a voicemail message he left for Stoke City captain Ryan Shawcross were leaked to the media.
Potters manager Mark Hughes claimed that Pulis had branded Shawcross "a loser" in the message, left two days after the Baggies' 1-0 triumph over Stoke at The Hawthorns.
Shawcross had previously accused West Brom of deliberately leaking details of Saido Berahino's drug ban to the press in the build-up to the clash.
Asked about the voicemail message following his side's 2-2 draw at West Ham United today, Pulis said: "I think it's absolutely disgraceful. Firstly, the phone call I make to Ryan is a private phone call between me and Shawcross.
"Yes, I did mention losers but I said about people with innuendos making allegations that weren't true. When you lose a game of football, you can still be a winner by taking it on the chin and getting on with it. I did use the word 'loser', but I meant it in that way and I actually said 'Ryan you've never been that'.
"I think it's absolutely disgraceful whoever's put that out and I mean disgraceful. I don't usually respond to bait, but I'm really really disgusted that from a few days before we played Stoke the innuendos coming out about Berahino, West Brom and myself. And then leading up to this game, you know, what nobody talked about the game and we'd won the game and played exceptionally well. It was all spun around other things."
Pulis's side are currently five points ahead of Stoke in the league standings.
Neil Wilkes
