The Coates family have injected a further £12 million into Stoke City as the club prepares for a busy period of investment in infrastructure at the stadium and training ground.
Documents published on Companies House last night show 12 million shares, with a value of £1 each, have been allotted in Stoke City Holdings Ltd. This is seen as a “reduced risk” way to put money into the business rather than loans from the owner. The maximum number of shares was increased from 10 million in 2022.
It is way for Stoke to fund large projects while remaining in the Championship, where outside income is on a completely different scale to the Premier League.
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Stoke have three major schemes on the go for this year. They are building a new two-storey facility for the first team at Clayton Wood, which would leave the current complex for the academy and women’s teams; the away end at the bet365 Stadium is being relocated to the South East corner and licensed standing is being introduced for home and visiting fans; and a new 1,500-capacity fan zone is being set up behind the Boothen End.
Sporting director Jon Walters explained recently: “When I tell people I actually get excited about it. When I try to articulate what this club actually has in place and what an opportunity it is for anybody to be a part of this club, whether you’re sporting director, head coach, physio or an academy member of staff, the opportunities here are phenomenal. It’s a well-run machine behind the scenes. Absolutely everything is in place to really push on.
“I’m not one to always say it but the owners will back the club with everything they’ve got and that’s not just money, it’s time and expertise, it’s having a relationship with John as well. It’s quite hard to explain just what is here. It’s a phenomenal place.
“We’re talking about building a new first team building at the training ground. We’re in the Championship and we’re not pushing at the top end of the Championship but we’re talking about a new first team facility, giving more to the academy and women’s team, doing more work on the pitches, you know the work that’s going on at the stadium, reclaiming the away end and building everything ready to be best in class and be right up there in the Premier League.
“The opportunity is there now to grow the team, grow the squad and really push on. To do that it’s about people. It always comes down to people. It’s about the people you have around you in the building.
“Then stripping it back again it’s about the DNA of Stoke City, the DNA of this city in itself not just the club, and building the club based on that: a relentless attitude, hard work, a drive.
“You know me, I’m constant. I’m always working, always thinking what’s next, how can we innovate? And I’ll own what we do. There will be time during this process that I make mistakes, there will be, that’s part and parcel of football but I’ll hold my hands up when that happens. I want humble people in the building, humble people that have a drive and energy to take this club to the next level.
“I see what Simon King is doing here behind the scenes, what every department here is doing behind the scenes. People are getting on board and really excited about what this club can be.”
Chairman John Coates has previously explained how the board had been looking to keep the club out of debt, even if it relied on their financial backing.
He said back in the spring of 2022: “I think we’ve been conscious for a while that the levels of debt at the club were high and while we acknowledge that level was ultimately owed to the owners, ourselves, and there was no interest chargeable, we still felt it was an important thing to address. How we addressed it was by converting £40m of debt into equity and then waived a further £120m of debt to take the debt down by £160m. It’s clearly a very significant improvement to the balance sheet and improve the financial stability of the club going forward.
“We remain fully committed to the club, we’ve always been fully committed to the club. We acknowledge that the last four or five years on the football pitch haven’t been as successful as we’d like, however no one said that owning a football club or supporting a football club was ever going to be easy.
“What we can do is try to set the club up for future success, we’re very conscious of the club’s place in the local community and we want to try to ensure that the club is financially sustainable.”