Stoke City have released new figures which shows the club has posted a hefty loss of £30m, after a disappointing drop of nearly £9m in turnover and a steep rise of £45m in operating expenses. These figures should increase after Stoke City’s relegation means that they’ll get a lot less money from the Premier League’s lucrative T.V. money, although such loss is offset by parachute payments, all in all, the harsh reality of relegation will have hit Peter Coates right in the face and his pocket.
While Peter Coates is a lifelong Stoke City supporter and widely regarded as one of the best chairmen in the English game, there will be fears that he might just tighten up the pocket strings after first witnessing the waste of money that has gone into several failed transfers and secondly realising that at the moment, Stoke City do not look like promotion candidates but rather a mid-table team.
Peter Coates has invested quite a lot of money this season in the hope that Stoke City would instantly get promoted straightaway, he lured Gary Rowett to Stoke City, by making Rowett one of the highest paid managers in the Championship as well as providing a considerable transfer budget for Rowett to sign quality Premier League wages, in theory, Coates was providing Rowett with a golden opportunity to take Stoke back into the Premier League but as often seen, there are many unknown variables such as form of players, cohesion and tactics.
With such bad financial figures, Coates might withdraw investment in Stoke City which would over time lead to the chances of Stoke City being promoted to be slimmer.
Money, money, money, Peter Coates knows Stoke needs to save but can he balance the finance and the performance of the team