Pulis grateful for Coates backing

Pulis was set to recruit Hoffenheim striker Demba Ba at the weekend for a reported £7.1million, only for the 25-year-old to fail a medical. Whether the deal can be resurrected for the Senegal striker, who has also been linked to West Ham, under different conditions remains to be seen. Regardless of that, though, Pulis has nothing but praise for chairman Peter Coates, a local businessman, and his family for continuing to back him with impressive financial muscle. Coates, who has made his fortune though an online betting company, is determined Stoke stay in the Premier League for a long time. A 2-0 home victory against Bolton was another step in the right direction and regarding the bid for Ba, Pulis said: "It says a great deal about the Coates family and what they are prepared to do for this club. "They have been fantastic not just for the club but for the area. Without them this club would not be where it is. "The chairman and his family know what we have got try and achieve. We have a three-year plan of staying in the Premier League. "If we stay up this season we will try to integrate our ideas and hopefully progress further. If we can do that, who knows what might happen? "We thought it was a good deal for a young lad who has scored a lot of goals in Germany. His wages were within our structure so everything was in place. "But unfortunately here has been a medical problem. The deal as we know it is not going to go ahead." Chief executive Tony Scholes added: "Whereas in previous transfer windows there was a pressing need to bring in new players, we are not in that position this time. "Nevertheless we will be exploring the possibility of improving the squad if we consider it to be the right deal for the club." It was a comfortable win for Stoke against Bolton with Danny Higginbotham scored at the far post in the 37th minute after Bolton failed to deal with a corner from Tuncay. Stuart Holden forced a good save out of Asmir Begovic at the start of the second half but that was as good as it got for the visitors. Etherington added a second in the 62nd minute from the penalty spot. He had been tripped by Zat Knight as he raced on to a ball from Tuncay.