Hughes accuses Pulis of phoning Shawcross to call him a loser

The tension between Mark Hughes and Tony Pulis shows no sign of dissipating after the Stoke City boss accused his West Brom counterpart of phoning Ryan Shawcross to call him a "loser".

Relations between Stoke and West Brom have become strained in recent weeks following Saido Berahino's transfer from The Hawthorns to Stoke in January.

Berahino rarely featured for Albion under Pulis and Hughes revealed ahead of the clash between the two sides last weekend that the striker had served an eight-week Football Association ban over a disciplinary issue, amid reports of a failed out-of-competition drugs test.

The release of that information by Hughes frustrated Pulis and there was no handshake between the Welsh duo following West Brom's 1-0 win seven days ago.

Hughes fuelled what is developing into a bitter feud by alleging Pulis has since been in touch with Stoke captain Shawcross to call him a "loser".

"We were annoyed with a number of things," Hughes said.

"I was annoyed with their manager ringing up Ryan on the Monday morning after the game and calling him a loser. I wasn't too happy with that.

"Any number of things surrounding the game were, in our view, unnecessary.

"There was a voicemail left, and I haven't heard it. But Ryan wasn't too pleased. He tried to ring back and didn't get any answer."

When asked about the call, Pulis confirmed Shawcross had tried to ring him but did not mention he had rung the defender first.