Stoke City manager Tony Pulis had nothing but praise for Gillingham’s fans after the great reception they gave him on Saturday.

Pulis saw his Premier League side go a goal down when Danny Kedwell struck in the 16th minute, but goals from Jon Walters, Cameron Jerome and Rob Huth saw Stoke City through to the FA Cup Fourth Round.

Before the game, much of the talk had been about the long running dispute between Pulis and Gills Chairman Paul Scally following their near on twelve year war of words.

Pulis was sacked by Scally after the 1999 Play-off final loss to Manchester City and when asked by Sky Sports News on Friday whether he would bury the hatchet with the Stoke boss, Scally said he would bury it in Pulis’ head.

“I will never forgive or forget what he did. He affected me, my family and this football club,” said the Gillingham chairman.

“Had he been successful with his court claim I doubt this club would be here. It was an unpleasant scenario and took a lot out of me.”

Scally prevented Pulis from being anywhere else in the ground other than the coach park, the tunnel, the changing rooms and the dugout, with the Stoke boss forced to do his post match press conference from the tunnel area.

Before the game, Pulis was handed a terrific reception from the majority of the Priestfield crowd and made a point of walking out onto the pitch to applaud all four sides of the ground.

After the game, Pulis was left to reflect on what had been a successful day for his side and what had been said by Scally 24 hours earlier:

“If he wants to say stuff, it’s a free world,”

“He can say what he wants but you’ve seen today who really counts and that’s the supporters,”

“I have been a manager a long time and I have never had all four sides of the ground stand up and applaud me when I walk on the pitch, and singing my name at the end.   “It was fantastic. That is what you work for at a football club – the supporters and the people in the area.

“I had four fantastic seasons here, took a club that was in administration to Wembley in my final game, in front of 90,000 people, and we took 38,000 people there. I can remember my first game here against Wigan in front of about 2,300 people.

“It’s lovely the supporters remember exactly what happened in that time. You’ve seen what they think of the job I did here – that’s all that matters to me.

“It has put me in good stead. It made me a better manager. In four years I was able to build a football club that I thought could push on, and did push on.

“That reception will stay with me for a long time. It was very, very special. I didn’t realise it was going to happen.   “It has been 12 years since I left the football club. So to be held in that esteem after 12 years – there aren’t many managers who get that.”

“I’ve been back three or four times since and every time they have been fantastic.   “You think as time goes on they will forget but they never have and that reception was fantastic. The lads have just been giving me some stick, asking which side I was on!”

“It was very special,” added Pulis to Stoke’s official website.

The Stoke boss wasn’t unduly concerned about having to do his press conference from within the tunnel area:

“That has happened the three other occasions I’ve been here, so it’s nothing different,” Pulis said.

“It’s the way it is, and I never go upstairs for a drink, even when we play at the Britannia. I never go in the boardroom afterwards – I’m not a boardroom man and I have never done it in my life. So it makes no difference to me.”

Undoubtedly, the war of words between the two men will continue for some time to come.