Tony Pulis leaves Stoke City after seven years in charge at the Britannia

Manager leaves the Potters after meeting with chairman Peter Coates

Tony Pulis stares to the heavens before the kick-off of Southampton v Stoke (GETTY IMAGES)

Tony Pulis looks set to leave Stoke City after a meeting with chairman Peter Coates this morning, the Stoke Sentinel is reporting.

Pulis has been in charge for seven years but was the subject of unrest from the fans towards the end of the season as Stoke flirted with relegation.

The Welshman guided the Potters to the Premier League in 2008 after finishing 2nd in the Championship. Having consolidated their position in the top flight with a 12th place finish in their first season up, Pulis established the side as a solid mid-table team, ensuring they have never finished below 14th.

His style of football has come under heavy criticism from other fans and managers, with their approach labelled 'ugly' on a number of occasions. However, Pulis guided them to the clubs first FA Cup final in 2011, where they were beaten 1-0 by Manchester City.

Stoke qualified for the Europa League through their final defeat, making the group stages. The highlight of the campaign was making it through the group stages and earning a tie with Valencia, where a valiant effort couldn't prevent a 2-0 aggregate defeat.

A poor run towards the back end of this season saw Stoke win just three of their last 19 league matches and saw them drop into a relegation battle, leaving them with 42 points at the end of the season - their lowest points tally in the Premier League to-date.

On Saturday Stoke announced they were investigating a dressing room prank which saw a pig’s head placed in the locker of Kenwyne Jones.

The striker later apologised to his team-mate Glenn Whelan, who he blamed for the prank, after smashing his windscreen in a mistaken act of retribution.

The 55-year-old took charge of 333 games since his return to the club in 2006, and he leaves with a record of 122 wins, 98 draws and 113 defeats.

Michael Owen, who came off the bench in the draw with Southampton in his final appearance before retirement, took to twitter to praise Pulis and the work he put in to get them where they are today.

Owen said: "Just heard that Tony Pulis has left Stoke. No denying he did a great job getting them to The Premier League and keeping them there."

Former stoke goalkeeper Steve Simonsen said: "I'm very surprised. It's a huge call from the chairman to relieve Pulis of his duties. He's done a fantastic job there, particularly in his second spell.

"Stoke were a mid-table struggling Championship outfit and he's turned them into a mid-table Premier League side who have experience in Europe and a Cup final under their belt. My feeling is it's a huge shock."

His departure means that he is the fourth manager to either resign or be sacked in the last month following Sir Alex Ferguson, David Moyes and Roberto Mancini. It leaves Roberto Martinez as the second longest reigning manager at their current club, but he is currently favourite to leave Wigan and take over at Everton.

Manager reigns at current club:

Arsene Wenger (Arsenal): 16 years 232 days

Roberto Martinez (Wigan): 3 yrs 340 days

Alan Pardew (Newcastle): 2 yrs 163 days

Sam Allardyce (West Ham): 1 yr 354 days

Martin Jol (Tottenham): 1 yr 348 days

Brendan Rodgers (Liverpool): 354 days

Paul Lambert (Aston Villa): 353 days

Chris Hughton (Norwich): 348 days

Steve Clarke (West Bromwich Albion): 347 days

Michael Laudrup (Swansea): 340 days

Andre Villas-Boas (Tottenham): 322 days

Rafael Benitez (Chelsea): 181 days

Harry Redknapp (Queens Park Rangers): 178 days

Mauricio Pochettino (Southampton): 123 days

Nigel Adkins (Reading): 56 days

Paolo Di Canio: 51 days