Delap plays down Beattie row fallout

RORY DELAP is disappointed his team-mate James Beattie’s altercation with the manager, Tony Pulis, became public knowledge. Beattie and the Stoke manager are understood to have come to blows in the Arsenal dressingroom, after a row over the squad’s Christmas party.

“This has happened 35 or 40 times in my career, when I’ve been in the dressingroom,” Delap said. “It’s got out once or twice. People blow it up. They hear it’s about a Christmas party and they jump on the bandwagon.

“On this occasion it was just disappointing that it got out. Nothing has changed at all in terms of our relationships and spirit in the dressingroom,” said the defender, toeing the official line that has been peddled since Pulis said the disagreement had been resolved.

The Stoke manager used his programme notes ahead of the 2-2 draw with Wigan to play down the incident and emphasise the team spirit that has lifted the club to 11th in their second season in the Premier League. The Christmas party went ahead after the Arsenal defeat and Delap confirmed the full squad was in attendance.

“We had a night out on the Saturday after the Arsenal game in London and that was always the plan. It was good. All the lads turned up to it,” said the 33-year-old, who said the set-to had provided them with something to “have a crack about”.

Despite describing Pulis as “old school” the former Republic of Ireland international said the Stoke manager is an easy man to please. “We know what we’ve got to do for him to be happy. At the moment, everyone is pretty happy.” The next opportunity to please comes with Saturday’s trip to Aston Villa.

Injured England striker Carlton Cole has pledged his future to West Ham. The 26-year-old World Cup hopeful has been linked with a January move away from Upton Park, with Liverpool, Arsenal and Tottenham reportedly interested. But Cole’s only target is to make a swift recovery from the knee ligament injury he suffered against Burnley a fortnight ago. He said: “I haven’t heard anything about a move. I love West Ham. I just want to get back to playing and I can’t do anything while I’m injured.”

GuardianService