Tony Pulis has recalled the value of an evening beer with Dave Kemp as he talked about the art of assistant managers.

Pulis, who has launched a new podcast called The Managers with Mick McCarthy, listened to this week's guest Stuart Pearce talk about how he had learnt to second-guess what would help David Moyes after his own experience as a number one.

McCarthy had a strong relationship with Terry Connor while Pulis knew he could rely on his old Stoke City number two Kemp to have his back - or keep him in line.

"Kempy would never interfere with me when I was talking or in the dressing room," said Pulis.

"He'd always say, 'Let's go and have a beer,' that night and we'd go and have a beer and he'd say, 'I think you were a little bit out of order with this,' or, 'I think that one needs a cuddle,' or 'I wouldn't do this...' or, 'Go steady with them, we've worked them too hard, let's just take the sting out of it.'

"He was good. He was seeing things I didn't see and in a positive way as well."

Pulis confirmed he had retired from management back in early 2023 having spent most of the previous 31 years in charge of clubs up and down the country, including the best part of a decade at Stoke.

But he had a firm idea of what kind of assistant he would take with him into a club now if he was staring out all over again.

He said: "I think the way it is now that managers are no longer managers. All the coaches now who are in charge of the team are all coaches and they're all good on the training ground.

"With the number of people we've got now between so-called managers or coaches and the owners, if I'm a young coach going in somewhere, I'm thinking I've got to get an experienced one in who will come in with me and go out with me but he'll look after what's going on above me. He'll help me manage above.

"I'll get on with the players, I'll get on with the team and he can advise a little on that but the biggest problem now in my view is that gap between the coach and the owner. You've got a chief executive, you've got a director of football, you've got the specialist on sport science, you've got this going on, you've got that...

"You've got so many people now involved that your concentration should be on that one person."

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