FOR a sexagenarian brought up in Wales, whose 45-year professional career has graced plenty of places in England but never the North-East, it might seem strange to hear how Tony Pulis feels at home on Teesside.

Even though his wife, Debs, has stayed in the south coast family home, Pulis has adapted to life as Middlesbrough manager - on and off the pitch, where he has embraced the area he spends the majority of his time.

Today the 60-year-old has travelled down to Cardiff City, a short drive away from where it all began in neighbouring Newport, for Boro’s latest Championship fixture under his watch, and he cannot remember a place sharing such similar values to where he works now.

When Pulis chatted at the club’s Rockliffe Park training complex yesterday, there was complete sincerity and emotion when he compared the two knowing how his father, Angelo, used to work in the steelworks just a short walk from where he was brought up in the Pillgwenlly area of Newport.

He said: “I think this is the closest we have been to that if I think about every club we have been to. This is the closest in that respect. They like a pub here, they like a pint. You can go in there and have a drink, sit in the corner and it’s been enjoyable since I came up.

“I want to see the history of the place, I want to see the docks. I would love to go round there and have a look. I lived right next to the docks in south Wales, the steelworks were only two streets away from me.

“The dock gates were 200 yards away from where we were brought up. I was right on the docks. I will probably have a look here too because I would like to see the terraced houses and all that. At 60 years of age it has brought back great memories being here.

“It’s been brilliant. Coming up you are a little reticent because coming up from Bournemouth, we won’t move from where we live because of the family down there, so leaving Debs was difficult. But the people here have made it a lot easier. The people here have been absolutely first class.”

As well as being appreciative of what the area stands for, Pulis is also respectful of what else is on offer other than its industrial heritage.

He said: “I have been lucky because Debs has been up a couple of times. We have had days off and I have gone out, we went to Whitby the other day and walked along the beach, it’s a bit different to Bournemouth.

“The wind was blowing, her poor face, with a bobble hat on, was red raw when we got off the beach. I told her she had caught the sun but I think it was the cold weather!

“We had fish and chips there. It was wonderful. We enjoyed driving over the Yorkshire Moors, again fantastic, the views, the sun was out and the sheep were around. It’s beautiful scenery.

“I have also been to Helmsley, the Rievaulx Abbey. We went there and had a full morning there, looked at the history. We then went off to a pub recommended to us, lunch there and came back.”

Pulis is often seen, after training, walking the Rockliffe Hall grounds, the golf course, stretching his legs and putting in the miles because he is planning to do a “long walk for charity” later this year. It is quite therapeutic too, enabling him to clear his head.

He said: “You never get away from the football completely though! Debs can ring me some mornings, she can be talking to me but she’s not talking to me and she will say ‘I will ring you later’. I have had that quite a few times over the last few weeks.”

Having embraced Teesside he was appointed on Boxing Day, he is already determined to learn more – on and off the pitch. That is why he added former Middlesbrough defender Curtis Fleming as first team coach recently, as he looks to bring brighter times and Premier League football back to the Riverside.

“I wanted people around me who could associate with people from this area,” said Pulis. “I needed help with respect of touching the area, getting a feel for it and the pulse of the people around the North-East and this side of it.

“To have Jonathan Woodgate here doing the in betweens of the academy and first team, then to bring Curtis in to work with the first team, as someone synonymous with a great period of success for this club, and still lives here, is brilliant.

“You can talk to them, they are Boro boys and love this club. It was important I didn’t just bring in people who were not attached to the area, I am delighted with the two of them. They are still learning what we want and need but they have bought into it.”

He might have settled into his new role, but the former West Brom boss knows what will matter is the results he delivers. Last weekend’s victory over Reading was his first home league win, now the challenge is to further close the four-point gap to the play-off places starting at fourth-placed Cardiff.

Pulis said: “The players have worked hard since I came in, aspects of the training we wanted to change and we have tried to do it gently rather than robustly, one of those things is fitness.

“It is not a regime that looks for an hour and a half’s training and then they go home, we look for different things. The players have bought into it and generally it is putting things in place and hopefully they buy into it.

“The big thing is giving them no excuses and making sure they go out on Saturdays and recognise it is about them, they carry the flag.

“We have to prepare for that and give them an understanding for what we want to achieve. Then they have to pick the baton up, it’s them who have to win matches. I think they have enjoyed it so far and let’s hope we can get more results.”