It is not a subject Tony Pulis wants to discuss, but he knows the question is coming, that an accusation like this cannot be ignored. The Middlesbrough manager stands up straight, unfolds his arms and as calmly as he can, strenuously denies that he has ever encouraged any of his teams to hurt an opposition player.

As soon as the subject is raised, the conversation is coming to an end. It is a question that cuts too deeply. Pulis is edging towards the door even as he answers it.

He understands why it had to be asked, but even so, he still cannot quite believe he is having to defend himself. There is anger, naturally, because Pulis feels betrayed, but mainly there is indignation.

According to one of his former players, Dave Kitson, writing in a newspaper column, Pulis’ desperation to beat Arsenal when he was Stoke City manager was so ferocious that the players were too wound up when they faced them; that the over-zealous tackle by Ryan Shawcross that broke Aaron Ramsey’s leg in 2010 was, effectively, the manager’s fault.

“Football is a physical game, but we’ve had one player sent off this season and that was for pulling somebody’s shirt,” said Pulis, speaking at the end of a hospital visit by Middlesbrough players, during which he spent several minutes talking to every patient and their families.

“We’ve not had anyone sent off for bad tackles or violent conduct this season. If you look at my record, I’ve had more than 1000 games [as a manager] and if you look at the stats, none of my teams were the dirtiest in the division. We didn’t have the most yellow or red cards.

“As for the accusation I would tell my players to deliberately try and injure someone, I won’t dignify that question with an answer, that is just a ridiculous statement, ridiculous… it’s nonsense.”

Stoke were known for their physical style of play under Pulis credit: Action images

Pulis is not easy to interview. He refuses, several times, to sit down while we talk, but he is engaging company.

The 60-year-old has always supposedly been on the wrong side of football fashion, a pair of flared jeans when style dictates you wear tailored ones. He has always been labelled old school while his teams tend to be described as, defensive and physical, shorthand for difficult to watch and dirty.

But his longevity as a manager means there is far more to him than that. Having first achieved success in the lower leagues with Gillingham, he won promotion to the Premier League with Stoke, turned them into a top ten side, reached an FA Cup Final and played in Europe.

He saved Crystal Palace from relegation and did the same at West Bromwich Albion, before deciding to take on the different challenge of trying to get Boro promoted from the Championship.

“I wanted that challenge after spending so long trying to keep teams in the Premier League,” Pulis said when asked why he had taken the job in December last year.

“I’ve enjoyed it, it’s a wonderful area. Some of my friends couldn’t believe I was going to move up here, but it’s a fantastic part of the country. The thing that struck me straight away was how warm and friendly the people are, whether they will remain friendly if we don’t get promoted… look you are going to get criticism if things don’t go well.

“But the speed with which you are expected to deliver things in football now is ridiculous. To think somebody was going to come in and turn it around in a heartbeat is amazing really.

Pulis took Stoke to an FA Cup final credit: Reuters

“Everything in life these days is about instant success and gratification, there is no patience. Everybody wants things now. If I hadn’t been given the time at Stoke, or at other clubs earlier in my career, I don’t think I would have ever been successful.

“Middlesbrough is a good football club, but things have been done differently to how I would like them to be done and it takes time to alter that.”

Boro are currently in the play-off positions, but Pulis wants to add to his squad in January, just as he did at the end of the summer window. He made no attempt to hide frustration when that did not happen but is adamant his relationship with owner Steve Gibson is a good one.

“We’ve run at an operating profit of around £30m for the last year,” Pulis said. “We’ve changed a few players, but we had to bring some money in.

“The chairman spent £54m on a team that had just been relegated from the Premier League last season, that’s incredible backing. I took over because it wasn’t functioning properly. I had to get some of that money back for Steve.

“Steve has been very straight and very honest about where the club is. That’s all you can ask for. He reminds me a lot of Peter Coates at Stoke.

“We’ve got as good a chance of going up as any team in this division. When you look at the table, it’s so tight, there are only a few points separating ten teams. If we can get two or three players in during the window, we’ll be able to give it a real good go.”

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Pulis is no longer irritated by people who complain about the way his teams play, He has heard it all before and, unlike some, he is not interested in changing perceptions just to be more popular.

“People have a perception of you and that’s very difficult to change,” he added. “If you look at the stats, which these people never want to do because it’s easier to just stick a tag on someone, we play less long balls at Middlesbrough than virtually any team in the division.

“There is no point me wasting time and energy worrying about that. People have their opinions, I can’t change them. I’ve always been bloody single minded, which is probably why I’ve been in the game so long.”

Pulis is 11 years younger than Harry Redknapp, who has just enjoyed a huge surge in popularity after winning I’m a Celebrity. They are good friends, Pulis played for Redknapp at Bournemouth and they lived close to each other in Dorset. Interestingly, although Pulis could never have imagined his old boss taking part in a reality television show in the jungle, he is not in the least bit surprised he won it.

“My wife and girls were telling me every day what he had been up to, the horrible stuff he had been eating, sleeping with rats...” Pulis says with a grimace.

“Harry is a football man, but he also a lovely human being, an excellent communicator. That is what football management is about. Those qualities are timeless. I could pick seven or eight managers who have been in the game a long time and they would have exactly the same impact Harry has done on I’m a Celebrity.”

It is difficult to imagine Pulis would be one of them, there is far too much sitting down for his liking.