STOKE City boss Tony Pulis believes Blackburn counterpart Sam Allardyce is a living reminder that Premier League management can be a killer.

Allardyce spent several weeks away from Blackburn after undergoing an angioplasty to widen one of his coronary arteries two months ago.

The Rovers boss is back in the dugout following surgery, but Pulis is mindful of the pressures that Premier League football can leave on managers.

“The heart trouble Sam had was a real shot across the bows for us all,” said Pulis.

“I’d hate to have to go through what he must have gone through, but that’s a measure of how stressful the job is because you give so much of your life to it.

“If you’ve got pride in yourself and the job, then you do put everything into it. It literally takes over your entire life.

“I think people can maybe get a bit blasé about what managers do, plus they’ll point to the money and the glamour that goes with the job.

“But it’s not about that for me, it’s about the pride you take in hopefully doing a good job for your club and its supporters.

“Sam is a man highly respected within the game and, as fellow pros, we are delighted to see him up and running again.”

The stresses and strains of the job probably reached a climax earlier this week when Pulis was forced to divide his time between a Premier League fixture at Sunderland and the deadline-day attempts to bolster his senior squad.

The eventual outcome could have been far worse after securing goalkeeper Asmir Begovic from Portsmouth for £3.25m, a respectable goalless draw at Sunderland and, fingers crossed, another clean bill of health for himself.

“The whole deadline-day thing has become something of a circus, particularly on Sky TV,” added Pulis.

Allardyce lines up in the opposite dugout tomorrow after recovering from the heart problems preventing him doing likewise when Stoke were at Blackburn in December.

“The heart trouble Sam had was a real shot across the bows for us all,” said Pulis ahead of tomorrow’s clash at the Britannia.

“I’d hate to have to go through what he must have gone through, but that’s a measure of how stressful the job is because you give so much of your life to it.

“If you’ve got pride in yourself and the job, then you do put everything into it. It literally takes over your entire life.

“I think people can maybe get a bit blasé about what managers do, plus they’ll point to the money and the glamour that goes with the job.

“But it’s not about that for me, it’s about the pride you take in hopefully doing a good job for your club and its supporters.

“Sam is a man highly respected within the game and, as fellow pros, we are delighted to see him up and running again.”

The stresses and strains of the job probably reached a climax earlier this week when Pulis was forced to divide his time between a Premier League fixture at Sunderland and the deadline-day attempts to bolster his senior squad.

The eventual outcome could have been far worse after securing goalkeeper Asmir Begovic from Portsmouth for £3.25m, a respectable goalless draw at Sunderland and, fingers crossed, another clean bill of health for himself.

“The whole deadline-day thing has become something of a circus, particularly on Sky TV,” added Pulis.