Tony Pulis ordered to pay £3.7m to former club Crystal Palace

The 58-year-old, now West Bromwich Albion manager, told Eagles' owner Steve Parish he wanted to leave the club a day after receiving a £2 million bonus.

Pulis was due a ‘survival bonus’ for keeping Palace in the Premier League at the end of August.

However, he asked that it was paid early so he could purchase a plot of land for his daughter. Pulis insisted he quit the club following a “heated players meeting” on August 8 – but a mediation panel ruled it had instead taken place on August 12, the day he received the payment.

Judge Sir Michael Burton said there was a lack of evidence to support Pulis’ claims and ordered him to pay Palace £3.78 million - £2.28m for the bonus plus liquidated damages of £1.5m.

"Mr Pulis secured early payment of his bonus from the club by deceit in August 2014," Premier League arbitrators said.

"The day after he had secured payment of £2 million ... he dropped the bombshell on the club that he intended to leave, leaving it, as must have been his intention, in the lurch on the eve of the new season."