Potters’ debt rises as Coates reaffirms club commitment

STOKE City’s debt to the Coates family has soared past £170m, John Coates has confirmed – at the same time as reiterating ‘total commitment’ to the club.

The 2020 accounts are expected to be published soon and will show Stoke’s reliance on their owners, particularly on the back of a year without crowds. The 2021 accounts which cover the pandemic are likely to be even more stark.

Joint-chairman Coates, however, insists that it is a ‘soft debt’ – and that the family which also runs bet365 would give Michael O’neill more cash to support transfer business if only they were allowed under EFL financial rules.

He said in a virtual meet-theboard evening: “The (2020 accounts) will show a higher amount (than the £170m debt in 2019). We’ve had a Covidaffected year and we didn’t take any Governmental help. We guaranteed wages and didn’t make redundancies.

“In terms of what our plans are to do with that, clearly it doesn’t make great balance sheet reading to have a huge debt like that on the balance sheet and we’ll continue to look at that and decide what we will and won’t do in respect of that.

“It is a completely interest free loan that is provided and we remain totally committed to the club. It is owed to the owners and nobody else. In that sense it is a soft debt.”

He added: “When the pandemic hit, my sister Denise’s first thought was that we need to make sure that our staff feel comfortable and aren’t worried about the implications this is going to have for themselves and their families.”