Managing in an international break - and what to do when your star player does not come home

As a manager, I used to see international breaks as an opportunity - then they became a problem.

In my first few years in the Premier League at Stoke, I would always hope that our fixtures against the top-six clubs would coincide with either their European midweek games or international matches.

We wanted to catch them before or after these games, as we hoped their players might just take their eyes off the ball before we played them, or would be mentally or physically drained after those fixtures against the top clubs or nations - especially if they had to turn up at the Britannia Stadium on the Saturday.

I always believed that would give us an edge, especially if it was a cold, windy and wet afternoon in Stoke!

Back then, it was the big clubs who took the biggest hits with losing players on international duty, whereas today most clubs in the Premier League or even the Championship will all lose significant numbers.

When that started happening to me, as Stoke progressed and became more established, I found managing the workload of these players when they returned to your club could be extremely difficult.

If travelling for four or five hours from across Europe - or for eight or nine hours from South America or Africa - on a Wednesday night before an important Premier League fixture on the Saturday wasn't hard enough, then on some occasions these trips might result in injuries to your players as well.

You learn how to prepare for this, however.

I would always have our medical team geared up to prepare and advise the players of the best recovery process to take, firstly during the period after their final game for us before the international break, and then also after the last of the two international games they might play before heading home.

Recovery was everything, to make sure they were ready to go for our game on the Saturday, and I was lucky at all my clubs to have doctors and medical staff who took those periods very seriously, and also bought into a degree of common sense.

Working with me, they soon understood my basic principles of player care, and little was left to chance.

During the players' time away, during the season and in the bigger summer tournaments, we would keep in contact with them and the medical staff would contact me with information on their health after every game.

I am not sure if supporters realise, but even if players get injured in a league game before the break, their country still has the right to call on them to be checked and also treated by their own country's medical department - then, even for an international friendly on the other side of the world, whether they travel is not up to you.

So, while playing for your country is a great honour and I understand why those who get the opportunity rarely turn down the chance to fulfil those dreams, for us managers having your top players away from you is a frustrating and worrying time.

Your players can be thousands of miles away, let loose to people whose livelihoods do not depend on your club's results - and you quickly learn how certain managers and countries would be much more accommodating than you when it comes to, let's say, relaxing more freely!

One example of that happened at Stoke when we were fighting for promotion to the Premier League in the spring of 2008 and Ricardo Fuller, who in my opinion was the Championship's most gifted forward that season, was called up by Jamaica.

Ric was really patriotic and proud of his heritage and would always show his utmost commitment to his country. Having said all that, he was always a player we gave special attention to when international breaks came around, for the reasons above.

On this occasion, I could not even find a Jamaica game for that international break when we checked the fixture list, but Ric assured me that there was a game being played on the island - but only one game, and he would be back early, and have a full week to prepare for our next league match.

My assistant, David Kemp, was convinced that the venue for Ricardo's 'game' would actually see him relaxing on one of Jamaica's fabulous beaches, but we took Ric's word for it that there was an official match - he was our talisman and, with some really big games coming up in the run-in, it was imperative to keep him happy.

When I arrived back at the training ground the following Monday, I was given all the medical data I explained about above, for all our lads who were away on international duty.

Everything seemed in order with them but there was one problem - Ricardo had not arrived back yet. Dave Watson, our physio, had tried and failed to get hold of any information concerning him, his game or his whereabouts.

It was such a big week for Stoke too, as we were preparing to face Mick McCarthy's Wolves team, who were also fighting for promotion, at a packed Molineux on the Saturday.

We had sold several thousand tickets for the Wolves game and with us fourth and them just outside the play-off places, we knew they would be right at it.

I needed Ric, but Tuesday and Wednesday passed and there was still no sign of our star centre-forward.

On the Thursday and Friday, I spent time working on the team to face Wolves and there was still no sign of Ricardo - in fact, worryingly, no contact was made with him at all.

When we got to Saturday, a matter of hours before kick-off, we all met at the Britannia Stadium for our pre-match food because Molineux was only a 40-minute journey away.

Out of nowhere, Ric appeared, said hello to everyone and, as if nothing untoward had happened, sat down and ate his eggs and beans.

The rest of the team did not acknowledge him and I was seething, but fortunately I decided to wait before dealing with him.

As I have mentioned previously, I always liked to work alongside more experienced football people than myself - people at Stoke like Linds Parsons, Gerry Francis and Kempy were all older and wiser than me and this was definitely an occasion where I benefited from that wisdom.

Kempy convinced me to put Ricardo down as a sub, and not to have any contact with him until Monday, after the game.

Ric sat by himself on the journey to Molineux and was on the bench for most of what was a fantastic game. The score was 2-2 when I asked him to warm up in the second half.

He could barely run and, instead, he walked down the side of the pitch and had a stretch - again, I was not impressed! - but when he came on, with less than half an hour to go, he changed the game and ended up running from the halfway line to score our fourth goal and seal a fantastic 4-2 win in stoppage time.

As you can imagine, our dressing room after the game was pretty lively, with Ricardo being hugged and lauded by our players who had been ignoring him only a few hours earlier.

I came in and I was sweating. I took my cap off and I could not say a word. I was absolutely washed out, which happened sometimes after big games like that - you just feel drained at full-time.

Ric comes over and sits next to me, puts his arm around me and says 'Gaff, no wonder you've got no hair - you worry too much!'

I honestly could have throttled him, but that was Ric. He was a special talent and a little bit different to the rest of my players.

As I keep saying, winning can hide a multitude of sins - and that saying is never as true as in this story, because that win ended up being a crucial one for us to get promoted.

On the Monday I spoke to Ricardo and his reason for being a week late was that he'd had a visa issue - he had flown into Miami a couple of times from Jamaica on his way back to England, only to be sent back to the island each time to sort his visa out.

I did not question his story, but then I always gave Ricardo a bit more rope than most players. He was a great lad as well as a wonderful talent, and one of a kind in many ways!

As you probably can tell from stories like that, management is a stressful job - looking after a group of young athletes week in, week out, is not easy - even during times like this when many of them fly off to represent their countries.

But, as I've mentioned in previous columns, when you are in charge of a club you have to manage yourself too - and in today's relentless schedule, an international break can offer a manager a rare chance to rest and reflect. You have to take it.

When I started out in management, I always believed I had the responsibility to be the first into the training ground and last out in the evening.

This stayed with me over my career, yet once I encountered international breaks, my whole concept of personal management changed.

I began to experience all 11 of my first-team starters going off to represent their countries for up to a fortnight, so I had to change my way of working while they were away.

Especially in the first week of the break, the training ground was devoid of any tactical work - which I loved doing.

Instead, most of the players left behind were not starters, and needed more individual work, or what I call 'entertaining' sessions.

That certainly didn't suit me - and I'm sure the players who played for me would vouch for that too! - so I eventually decided to start spending that first week of the break away from the training ground.

At first I felt guilty for not being in every day but I went on to realise that feeling that way was stupid.

The pressure you are under when you are trying to keep your club in the Premier League, which was my first aim at Stoke, Crystal Palace and West Brom, is enormous and I learned that managing myself better, mentally and physically, actually helped me refresh and go forward with more energy and clarity.

Today I look at managers and coaches and hope that, especially for the younger ones, the above registers with them.

It is a relentless and unforgiving job, so rest and recovery are essential, to make positive, correct decisions. Whether you are fighting for titles and trophies or battling relegation, everyone needs it.

Tony Pulis was speaking to BBC Sport's Chris Bevan.