£1.7m star will be fondly remembered at Stoke City despite run-ins with Tony Pulis | OneFootball

Jermaine Pennant was a key man for the Potters despite not really seeing eye-to-eye with legendary boss Pulis

Numerous Stoke City legends and cult heroes were born from their time in the Premier League, and winger Jermaine Pennant won fan-favourite status for his exploits at the club between 2010 and 2014, despite his fall-outs and run-ins with one of the greatest managers in the Potters' history, Tony Pulis.

Nottingham-born Pennant emerged as one of English football's most exciting young attackers in his time at Arsenal in the early 2000s, but off-pitch troubles saw him lose his way with the likes of Birmingham City and Liverpool, and he was playing for Real Zaragoza at 26-years-old with his career seemingly set to peter out from then on in.

He was also disciplined in his time at the La Liga club, but Stoke and Pulis took a gamble on his talents and signed him on an initial short-term loan deal from Zaragoza in August 2010.

Pennant went on to become one of the Potters' key men in some of their greatest years as a club, with an FA Cup final appearance and a run in the Europa League alongside impressive performances in the Premier League.

He did not see eye-to-eye with Pulis, however, but despite their clashes and his troubles off the pitch at the club, he is still regarded as one of Stoke's best modern-day players by many connected to the club, even to this day.

Jermaine Pennant was well-loved by supporters in his four years at Stoke

Pennant burst onto the scene at Arsenal as a teenager, and scored a hat-trick on his full Premier League debut for the Gunners as many tipped him to become an England regular and one of the best attackers in the country in the years to follow.

His reality was pretty different, as he struggled to adjust to the high-profile life of a footballer and never truly impressed or reached those heights at Birmingham, Liverpool or Zaragoza.

Stoke was seen as a chance for him to get his career back on track, with Pulis having helped numerous players to do a similar thing as Stoke boss in the past, not least fellow wide man Matthew Etherington, who Pennant soon formed a dangerous double-act with on either flank.

Pennant initially signed a four-month loan deal at the Britannia Stadium, but after an impressive start to life at the club, it was made clear by both him and Pulis that there was a plan for him to stay for the long haul. The then-27-year-old soon made a permanent move, and put pen-to-paper on a two-and-a-half-year contract at the club in late December 2010, for an initial £1.7m.

He kicked on even further that season, and it was clear to see how much he was enjoying his football in ST4 after a few years in the wilderness. Pennant ended his first campaign at Stoke with three goals and eight assists in 36 appearances in all competitions, with one of those assists coming in an FA Cup semi-final thrashing of Bolton Wanderers, before he played the full 90 minutes in the final loss against Manchester City.

The former Liverpool man continued to perform consistently well into his second season at the club, and he played in nine of Stoke's 12 Europa League games that term, while registering 10 more assists in 40 appearances throughout the campaign. Those previous off-pitch troubles did start to creep in again though, and he broke club curfew on two separate occasions.

He soon fell out of favour in the 2012/13 campaign after the arrival of Michael Kightly, while Jon Walters was also utilised in his right-wing position on occasion. Pennant was then sent out on loan to Championship side Wolves midway through the season, but he struggled to make an impact and returned to the Potteries after just two months at Molineux.

It looked as if his time at the club was coming to a disappointingly low-key end that term, and his contract soon expired with an exit seemingly already decided. That was until new Stoke boss Mark Hughes offered him a new one-year contract, and so he stayed as a squad option for 2013/14.

His fourth and final strike for the Potters was probably his finest in red and white, and maybe even his crowning moment for the club. Stoke were locked at 0-0 in the late stages of an away game against West Ham in the third game of the new season, but Pennant stepped up to score a fine free-kick and win the game in front of the adoring travelling support.

Pennant's race was soon run at the Britannia Stadium, and his contract was terminated in January 2014 as he departed with the best wishes of many at the club for the future. He later went on to play for Pune City, Wigan Athletic, Tampines Rovers, Bury and Billericay Town before retiring in 2018.

Pennant and Tony Pulis never truly saw eye-to-eye in their time at Stoke

Pennant had his fair share of run-ins with managers prior to his time with Stoke, and Arsène Wenger even admitted that he had decided against offering him a new contract at Arsenal due to his numerous issues with the law, after his Gunners exit in 2005.

Legendary Stoke manager Pulis gave him a chance to prove himself in the Premier League again, and while lots of the Potters' issues were kept in-house during his years in charge, that did not stop Pennant, who is now a regular on talkSPORT, airing out their issues in his 2018 autobiography, 'Mental: Bad Behaviour, Ugly Truths and the Beautiful Game.'

"Going to Stoke was a bit of a culture shock. I was used to the Premier League and the English style of football. It’s tough and physical," he wrote in his book, via StokeonTrentLive.

"But being at Stoke was different again. I went from being in Spain with time on the ball, being able to express myself and not have to defend too much to then being a groundhog under Pulis. It was like being treated like a dog.

"Training started to get so boring, and none of them enjoyed it. None of them. We just got on with it. It was the same for Ryan Shawcross, Glenn Whelan, everybody. They all hated it. They’re seen as disciples of Pulis, his players, but they all hated it.

"One day it reached a point when another ball went sailing over my head and I couldn’t help it. I turned around and said, ‘**** it! Why do we have to keep hitting it long?’ I finished by saying, ‘Why am I even here?'

“I kept training but I let my level drop because I was bored and then he would complaint that I wasn’t making a proper effort.

"I flipped again and I told him, ‘We aren’t even training, we’re not even touching a ball. You’re telling us to run to number one or if the ball goes to number two…’"

Pennant found himself out of the team in 2012/13 during Pulis' last season in charge of the club. He saw a switch to Leeds United fall through late in the transfer window due to the Welsh boss' orders, but was sent out on loan to Wolves with no mention of a rift between the pair. Pennant revealed the true reasoning behind his move away in a 2018 interview with BBC Radio Stoke.

"My agent spoke to him about maybe going out on loan and Leeds were interested. I thought great because I’d been there before, I liked the city and it’s a big club so if I said if Stoke didn’t want me, Tony Pulis didn’t want to use me, I’d go and get out of his ear," he said, via StokeonTrentLive.

"So everything was sorted and all agreed but last minute he pulled the plug. Me and my agent were kind of confused but he said he wanted to keep me and use me.

"The next game we were at Everton so he stopped me from going on loan, kept me at Stoke… but he didn’t put me in the team. He took me to the game but I’m not in the squad. I wasn’t happy because if I’m not in the squad why am I being dragged to the game? It’s hard enough not playing.

"I was in the changing room after the game and I’d put a bet on some other football results. I think they all came in. As Tony and his assistant came in I was checking my results and I cheered and they thought I was cheering because we lost 1-0. It wasn’t, it was because of my bet.

"The next day he told me he didn’t want me anywhere near the team or the training ground, so we fell out."

It is clear, looking back, that Pennant and Pulis' relationship at Stoke was strained, to say the least. However, despite their run-ins, most issues between the pair were kept under wraps, and it was not made obvious that they did not see eye-to-eye until many years later.

Regardless of how highly Pulis is thought of among so many supporters in ST4, Pennant was, and is, mostly loved by Stoke fans for his star turns in some of their best years in their long 162-year history.