Tony Pulis believes football managers can draw powerful lessons from military commanders and historical leaders — and he counts Napoleon Bonaparte among the most instructive figures he has studied throughout his career.

Writing during the November international break — a period that doubles as prime sacking season across English football — Pulis reflects on what managers do between jobs, how they rebuild, and why staying curious is as important as any tactical drill.

The phone call that set a standard

Pulis was dismissed from his first managerial role at Bournemouth, then in what is now League One, over 32 years ago. He describes the experience as devastating — the kind of professional blow that can knock a manager off the merry-go-round for good.

Two days into unemployment, legendary manager Jim Smith of Portsmouth called. Smith's message was blunt: a manager isn't truly tested until he has been sacked at least three times. His advice — get off the sofa and find the next opportunity — stayed with Pulis for the rest of his career.

Pulis has since passed those same words on to other managers who have struggled to come to terms with losing their jobs, recognising that the emotional impact of a sacking is something outsiders rarely appreciate.

Scouting, learning, and the value of watching players

When Bruce Rioch — then enjoying considerable success at Bolton before taking the Arsenal job — invited Pulis to scout for him during the 1994 summer, the opportunity proved transformative.

Spending a full season in the stands and on the terraces, Pulis concluded that identifying the right players for each level of the game was the single greatest factor determining a manager's success. Character, coaching, and motivation all mattered — but everything began with recruitment.

That conviction was vindicated quickly. Appointed manager of Gillingham the following summer — a club that had finished 89th out of 92 across English football's top four divisions — Pulis rebuilt the squad using players he had scouted while working for Rioch and Bolton. Gillingham finished second in what is now League Two and earned promotion in Pulis's first season.

Napoleon Bonaparte and the lessons of history

Between managerial stints, Pulis widened his education beyond football. He visited clubs including Bayer Leverkusen, Athletic Bilbao, and RB Leipzig — the latter at an early point in its rise through German football — and he studied historic military campaigns with the same rigour he applied to match analysis.

Napoleon became a particular obsession. Pulis was drawn to the French commander's attention to detail and his ability to inspire fierce loyalty among his troops. In 2019, a French newspaper invited Pulis to Corsica to offer a British perspective at the celebration of Napoleon's 250th birthday — an event attended by visitors from across Europe.

The contrast between Napoleon's organisational brilliance and the catastrophic failure of the Charge of the Light Brigade during the Battle of Balaclava also captured Pulis's attention. He travelled to Crimea to stand on the ground where Lord Cardigan led the charge — a disaster he attributes to garbled communication passed down from Lord Raglan through Lord Lucan: a warning, he argues, about the dangers of unclear leadership.

Shackleton and the endurance of great command

The final lesson Pulis highlights comes from the story of HMS Endurance and the extraordinary leadership of Sir Ernest Shackleton, whose partnership with his deputy Frank Worsley kept their crew alive after the ship became trapped in the ice fields of the southern hemisphere.

For Pulis, the thread connecting Napoleon, Shackleton, and football management is the same: the ability to command loyalty, communicate clearly, and keep men moving forward when circumstances grow desperate — lessons, he insists, that remain as relevant on the touchline as they ever were on the battlefield.