Thailand assistant manager Steve Darby insists a deal for national team coach Peter Reid to become Tony Pulis' number two at Stoke has yet to be reached.

Former Sunderland and Manchester City manager Reid was in the directors' box at St Andrews on Saturday to watch Stoke share a goalless draw with Birmingham City and Pulis confirmed he was hopeful a deal could be reached this week to bring the former England international to the Britannia Stadium.

But Pulis did confirm "there is a minor issue about securing his release from his job with the Thailand," and Football Association of Thailand president Worawi Makudi remained tight-lipped over any potential deal.

"I am in daily contact with Peter, and at this moment nothing is concrete yet, but he regularly gets offered jobs as he was so successful over a long period with Sunderland," Darby told PA Sport.

"Nothing official has come to the Thai FA as yet, so at the moment it's an ongoing story. When the FA receives anything formally Dato Worawi plans a press conference.

"I'd be disappointed if he goes as I really enjoy working with him, but is football ever simple and logical?"

Pulis' current number two David Kemp is set to move to South America as part of the club's scouting network.

Reid was named as Thailand coach in July 2008, but has continually been linked with a number of roles and has openly admitted he would return to England if the offer was right.

"I do not have any information, nothing has been passed to me at this time," said FIFA Executive Committee Member Worawi.

"There may be some developments today or tomorrow."

Reid's Thailand, who drew with Liverpool in a friendly in Bangkok last month, are currently preparing for November's Asian Cup qualifiers against Singapore and December's South East Asian (SEA) Games title defence.

"On a personal level, I'm just continuing with the monitoring of national team players and trying to conclude the squad for the SEA games in December," added former Home United and Perak coach Darby.

"Plus I'll be working with our successful under-19s at some stage soon. We are trying to develop an integrated national team programme so the elite players can develop smoothly. We've already had two of the under-19s train with the national team; there is so much talent here.

"The Thai Premier League is booming with sell out crowds every week so the players are getting a high level of competition before the Asian Cup in November."