LINDSAY Parsons and Tony Pulis have been mates for more than 40 years, working together at a host of clubs at all levels, but former Cheltenham Town boss Parsons says they rarely agree on anything football-related.
The former Robins boss now travels far and wide in his capacity as chief scout for Premier League Stoke City, where Pulis has been manager since 2006.
He was unable to stave off relegation from the Conference, but he quickly rebuilt the squad with a much younger group of players, some of whom went on to become Robins legends.
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His squad finished second in the Southern League for three years in succession, agonisingly missing out to Dover Athletic, Farnborough Town and Hednesford Town as they bid to climb back to the top level of non-League football.
He also took the Robins to the second round of the FA Cup in 1992/93, when they were beaten by Pulis' Bournemouth in a replay at Dean Court.
He left to join his old mate at Gillingham in the summer of 1995 and he has followed Pulis around, working with him at Bristol City, Portsmouth, Stoke and Plymouth Argyle before the pair returned for a second spell at Stoke.
Bristol-based Parsons, who made more than 350 appearances for Bristol Rovers, looks back with some regret over his decision to leave Cheltenham to become Parsons' number two.
"I do regret leaving Cheltenham in some ways because I miss having the final say and I miss a lot of things about non-League football," Parsons said. "I remember our first training session at Gillingham and I told Tony the standard was far lower than what I had been used to at Cheltenham in the Southern League!
"But we turned it around and won promotion to what is now League One and then we were 2-0 up in the play-off final against Manchester City at Wembley, but we lost on penalties."
Pulis took Parsons with him to Bristol City in 1999, but their Rovers connections meant they were never really accepted.
"The crowd were on our backs from the start and it seems they don't forget there because they were very hard to please," Parsons said.
Six months later, they switched to Portsmouth, spending ten months at Fratton Park before Pulis succeeded Steve Cotterill as Stoke boss in 2002.
"I remember one of the first names I gave to Tony at Stoke was a lightning quick, 6ft 4in striker called (Emmanuel) Adebayor, but we were in the Championship at the time and we were told the fee of £3million was too much," Parsons said.
Pulis has since guided the Potters into the Premier League, where they are currently 13th in their fifth consecutive season in the top flight.
"We have loads of disagreements because I don't like the way they play and I will never change on that," Parsons said.
"I don't think the Premier League is as good as it's made out to be and of course there are a lot of talented players in there, but there are also a lot of average ones. I think the game has been ruined by agents."
Parsons was on a scouting mission in Macedonia to watch them play Denmark in February and he was also sent to take in Sweden against the Republic of Ireland in Stockholm last month.
"I have been told that players I've recommended have been too small for Stoke, but I don't go along with that," Parsons said. "Look at Lionel Messi, he is different class and is he too small?
"I have recommended players like (Cheick) Tiote, (Hatem) Ben Arfa and (Demba) Ba, but they have not been signed by Stoke and they've done well for other clubs."
"We had Archie Howells, who I knew from Bristol Rovers and he was always going to be a Football League player," Parsons said.
"I brought in two young lads from the Bournemouth area, Christer Warren and Simon Cooper, and we sold Warren to Southampton for about £45,000.
"At that level it's all about opinions and some players get lucky and a club higher up will take a chance on them, but others don't.
"I am a bit disillusioned with the game at the top as I think some of the passion has gone and players kissing badges annoys me because most of the time they'd leave for a bit more money somewhere else.
"Finishing second three years in a row at Cheltenham did hurt me, but I miss those days because football has been overcomplicated now and really it's a simple game."
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