Pulis 'out of control' before Shawcross broke Ramsey’s leg

Tony Pulis 'despised' Arsene Wenger and wound his players up to such an extent it contributed to Ryan Shawcross breaking Aaron Ramsey's leg, former Stoke striker Dave Kitson has claimed.

The ugly incident came back in February 2010 when the Stoke defender clattered into the Wales international, who sustained fractures to the tibia and fibula in his right leg.

It was a reckless and full-blooded challenge from Shawcross and Kitson, now retired, has shed light on just why the Potters were so fired up for the clash.

'I heard the crack of Ramsey’s leg from the bench,' Kitson recalled in his Sun column. 'I heard the screaming. And the build-up to the game contributed to this moment.

'Stoke manager Tony Pulis absolutely despised Arsenal boss Arsene Wenger, hated the way he played.

'All week I had never seen a manager so desperate to win a game of football, it was bordering on out of control.

'I remember Pulis pacing up and down shouting random things — this bundle of nervous energy blurting random swear words, trying to burn off his own nervous energy.

'And, of course, the upshot of all of that energy was that we went over the top and it cost Ramsey a year of his career.'

It can be argued that it is a manager's job to get players geared up for a huge clash and it is commonplace for them to get overly enthusiastic.

Kitson, however, believes Pulis's vendetta against Wenger and his style of football crossed a line.

'It seemed to me that was as a direct result of players reacting to their manager’s over enthusiasm and buying into that whole thing and carrying out his instructions and crossing the line.

'But it just went too far. His desperation to beat Wenger and justify his way of playing football. It crossed the line and went too far.'

Kitson saw Wenger's wrath first hand from the bench, even claiming the Frenchman singled him out to express his disappointment.

'It was just horrendous,' the former Reading man added. 'I distinctly remember Wenger turning around in the technical area absolutely horrified by it.'

'The first person he looked at when he turned around was me on the bench because I was in line with him.

'Even though it wasn’t me who broke his leg, I was on that bench, part of that team.

'Wenger gave me this look of complete and utter disappointment — the kind of look your dad gives you when you’ve f***** up, when he’s gone beyond anger.

'It was as if he was saying to me "I’m surprised that you would be a part of this".

'He knows how to win football matches. He finds a way to win, that’s the mark of a good manager.

'It’s just the way that he went about it, I didn’t want to be a part of it.'

The Gunners boss was incensed after the game. He cited two previous incidents leading to serious injuries — to Eduardo and Abou Diaby — in which, he felt, his players were deliberately targeted.

For Ramsey, who was then only 19, he would be out for over eight months and missed 29 games for the Gunners, essentially wiping out an entire season for him.