West Brom boss Tony Pulis calls to ban divers

Pulis also insists that simulation is not the reason why Callum McManaman, who the boss thought went down too easily in an attempt to win a penalty at Southampton in September of last year, has been frozen out of the first-team picture.

A national debate on the matter has been simmering for a while and came to a boil after Hull City midfielder Robert Snodgrass was accused of diving in their 3-3 draw against Crystal Palace at the weekend.

On how to stamp diving out of the game, Pulis said: "We have retrospective stuff on tackles and we should have retrospective decisions on people who dive and they should be banned for three games, I think. That will soon stop it."

"You don't want them to dive.

"Sometimes they do it out of instinct but you don't want them to dive.

"I would bring it in. They do it for challenges, why not do it for that?"

McManaman – a £4.75million signing from Wigan Athletic in January 2015 – made just nine appearances after the alleged dive last season. He has not featured at all for the Baggies first-team this season, playing only for the under-23s.

When asked if simulation had a bearing on McManaman's situation, Pulis said: "I don't think it was just that.

"We picked the team that we thought was best without Callum being in it and that's no disrespect to Callum."

Meanwhile, Pulis is coy amid reports linking Albion with a January move for Everton midfielder James McCarthy.

The 26-year-old Republic of Ireland international was reportedly a target of the Baggies last summer and is believed to want to quit the Goodison Park club this winter.

Albion are one of a number of clubs to be linked with the Irishman, including Villa and Scottish giants Celtic.

On the speculation about McCarthy, Pulis said: "We are going to be linked with loads of people, and other clubs will be linked with loads of people.

"As I have said all along, you do your business with other clubs first and hopefully keep it away until it happens."