Stoke City chairman, Peter Coates has revealed that the Potters are on track to lose £4.5m this year – well over budget but is pleased that the team improved their performances on the field after the club’s best season for 11 years.
Speaking to the Sentinel as he completes his first year back at the helm since buying out the Icelanders last year, he said that the cost of all those short term loans hit the Potters’ bank account hard as they have overspent their budgeted £3.5m loss by around £1m. Coates will be paying the £4.5m deficit himself which will prevent the club getting it into the big financial mess that saw Coates bailing out the club to the tune of £8m last year when he took over.
Agents’ fees for the short term loans of the likes of Hendrie, Griffin, Diao and others cost £500,000 as the club were forced to rely heavily on the loan market after missing out on long term signings during the summer transfer window due to the change in management at the Brit. Coates hopes that they will be better prepared this time around: ‘I do want the squad to be more settled this year and, as such, although we will continue to use the loan market, it is our hope … they are season long loans.’
In that regard, it appears that Stoke may again have to rely on the good will of Pompey in order to take Andy Griffin on loan for the full season, instead of signing the player as he still has another year on his contract back down on the south coast and could prove too expensive to buy outright.
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