Outside The Box: Pulis and Scally seize chance to stoke the fires of antipathy

Gillingham's Paul Scally called Tony Pulis 'evil and despicable' (Getty Images)

Gillingham's chairman, Paul Scally, and the Stoke manager, Tony Pulis, are in for an uncomfortable reunion after their clubs were drawn together in the FA Cup third round.

The mutual antipathy stems from the final months of Pulis's four-year reign as manager of the Kent club, who got to the third-tier play-off final at Wembley in 1999 and led Manchester City 2-0 with barely two minutes to play before losing on penalties.

Scally sacked Pulis for "gross misconduct" and later accused him of trying to line up a job elsewhere while still managing Gillingham, citing Bristol City and Stoke. In an acrimonious court case Pulis, who was claiming £400,000, alleged financial irregularities and was in turn accused of trying to blackmail the chairman out of £200,000 using documents stolen from the club, which he denied. After four days Pulis accepted an out-of-court settlement of £75,000. The bitterness lingered and during the build-up to Stoke's FA Cup final last May, Scally described his old manager as "the most evil and despicable person I have ever worked with." He added: "The reason that the team performed so well in 1999 was they were a great bunch of lads. My grandmother could have run that team that day." Pulis said after last Sunday's draw that he "had a spat" with Scally, but said he was proud of the team he put together at Priestfield and "looked forward" to the game. Scally said pointedly that it would be "lovely to see his team".

The goal is to break records

At the risk of prompting a clutch of 0-0 scorelines in the next few weeks, we feel obliged to report that the number of goals in the Premier League this season is threatening to break records for the 20-year-old competition. Going into this weekend, the rate was 2.96 per game and but for all those missed penalties chronicled in these pages it would have comfortably reached three per match. The highest for a full season was last year's 2.8, which suggests a trend rather than a mere blip caused by Manchester City's attacking and Bolton's defending. League Two is the next best for goals, at an average of 2.85 per game. But there is still some way to go to match the post-war heights of 1960-61, when the 1,724 goals came at a rate of 3.73. That season, Double-winners Tottenham (115), Wolves and Burnley all scored more than 100 and Newcastle were relegated after scoring 86 but conceding 109.

Referees keep their shirts on

Good to see a couple of examples of common sense from referees declining to show yellow cards after players lifted their shirts to reveal personal tributes. Sheffield United's Welsh striker Ched Evans did so after scoring in the FA Cup tie against Torquay, revealing the words "Rest In Peace Speedo". After an intervention from Torquay's manager Martin Ling, referee Chris Sarginson declined to take action. It was an emotional night as Billy Sharp scored for Doncaster against Middlesbrough only hours after the announcement that his two-day-old son had died. His message read "That's for you son" and again no card was shown. Sunderland's Kieran Richardson was less fortunate following his goal at Wolves last Sunday, his T-Shirt announcing Kaka-style, "I belong to Jesus".

Nasri waits for training crash

France's Samir Nasri revealed England's cunning plan to render him hors de combat before the two countries meet in the opening Group D match of Euro 2012. He said of his half-dozen Manchester City team-mates hoping to be in Fabio Capello's squad: "They told me that they will wait until the last [training] session of the season, and they will try to do something." Then he laughed. A little nervously.

s.tongue@independent.co.uk