Tony Pulis has the most amazing story about Ricardo Fuller | OneFootball

Ricardo Fuller scored 50 goals in 207 games for Stoke City and one of the most important of all came in a win away at Wolves in February 2008.

But as former Potters boss Tony Pulis will tell you, it very nearly didn’t happen.

Pulis was working as a pundit for BBC Radio 5 Live and during a discussion about Chelsea goalkeeper Kepa Arrizabalaga’s refusal to be substituted at the weekend, the Middlesbrough manager told an excellent anecdote about a certain laid-back Jamaican striker.

Take it away Tony …

“It was during the promotion year so going back a long time now.

“It was during the international break and we were playing Wolves two weeks later and Ric had been called up for Jamaica again. Jon [Walters, who was also in the studio] will tell you, he used to get called up and Jamaica didn’t have any games on the international sheets!

“We used to just think Ric was having a week in Jamaica and that was it. Put four cokes down, have a game on the beach, have a couple of beers and come back a week later.

“So I go to see him and say, ‘Go Ric but make sure you’re back on the Monday, the Wolves game is a massive match for us.’ He says, ‘Gaff, don’t worry about me, I’ll be in Monday.’

“But Monday comes, no Ricardo. Tuesday comes, no Ricardo.

“I go to see Dave the physio and say, ‘Dave, get onto him and tell him I’m seething.’

“Wednesday comes, still no Ricardo, Thursday comes, still no Ricardo.

“By this time I’d just about had it. Friday, still not there. Saturday, we’re having pre-match at the Britannia Stadium and we’re going to leave about 12.45pm to get to Molineux for what is a massive game. I think Wolves were third, we were second.

“He turns up Saturday, about 12pm for pre-match. Walks in the room as though nothing has happened. ‘Morning, gaff! Morning lads!’

“None of the lads are speaking to him, they won’t have anything to do with him.

“Anyway, the players all eat and get on the bus, Ric is left by himself so I go over and say, ‘Ric, where have you been?’

“He says, ‘You won’t believe it. I’ve flown in and out of Miami three times, they just wouldn’t let me go through customs so I’ve had to go back and go back.’ Yeah, of course.

“We get on the bus and I sit with David Kemp my assistant and say, ‘Kempy, he’s not even going as sub.’ Kempy says, ‘Listen, Tone, forget all of that, get him on the bench. It’s such an important game and the fella can win the game.’

“Just before kick-off I pull Ric across and say, ‘How long can you give us, Ric?’ He says, ‘Twenty minutes!’ I’m seething. Twenty minutes in the biggest game of the season.

“The game gets going and Rory scores, 1-0, Wolves score two, they’re 2-1 up, then we get another one to go two-each and Mick McCarthy is manager of Wolves and they’re pummelling us. So Kempy goes to me, ‘Get him ready.’ I tell Ric to go and have a warm up.

“He walks down the side of the pitch, he can hardly run. He has a stretch and he’s talking to the Wolverhampton supporters down the other end of the pitch. I’m looking at him and I’m absolutely seething.

“We put him on for the final 20 minutes and he gets the goal which wins us the game. An unbelievable goal.

“We come in after the game and I’m sweating. I take my cap off and I can’t say a word, I’m absolutely washed out. He walks over to me, sits next to me, puts his arm around me and says, ‘Gaff, no wonder you’ve got no hair! You worry too much. I could have strangled him.

“Jon Walters will tell you what Ricardo Fuller was like. He was a special individual and certainly a special player. You talk about handling players and he was different to the rest of the group.

“The rest of the group were fantastic professionals, everybody was together and Ric was a bit different. He wanted to do what Ric wanted to do at times and you’d let him get away with little things as long as it wasn’t too much because you knew he could do something special.

“He would pick the ball up and beat a player, score a goal out of nothing. He goes down as one of the great players who ever played for Stoke City Football Club.”

And remarkably, Fuller is still going strong. The 39-year-old plays for Nantwich Town in the Northern Premier League but his last cap for Jamaica came back in 2012.