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Post by Pedropotter on May 7, 2008 6:15:40 GMT
From Times OnlineMay 7, 2008
Stoke owner: promotion harder than survivalPeter Lansley
Peter Coates accepts that many people will be telling him over the coming weeks how difficult it will be for Stoke City to survive in the Barclays Premier League next season, but the chairman of the newly promoted club can counter by asking whether those people realise how hard it has been to get out of the Coca-Cola Championship.
Coates is the fan who loved the club so much he bought it - not once, but twice. So vitriolic was the terrace criticism a decade ago, when Stoke fell into the third tier of English football, that he sold out to an Icelandic consortium. He returned two years ago, wiser and wealthier, to finance a push for the Premier League that has proved remarkably successful. In the interim, Coates, 70, launched Bet365, the online betting company, and now that he is reportedly worth £300million and is ranked as the 270th-wealthiest man in Great Britain and Ireland, he wants to ensure that Tony Pulis has a “competitive team” by August.
Coates fell in love with football, and Stoke City, when, as a boy, he watched Stanley Matthews, Neil Franklin and Freddie Steele at the old Victoria Ground. “They were all locally born and if it hadn't been for the intervention of the Second World War, that team would have put Stoke City on the map,” Coates said, as he relaxed in the boardroom of the Britannia Stadium yesterday. “Now it's our job to try and do the same with this team.”
Last summer Peter Gadsby, another wealthy supporter-turned-chairman, was optimistic that Derby County could compete in the Premier League after their promotion. By November, he had vacated his position. Stoke's rivals from along the A50 floundered at the higher level and the chairman attracted a welter of hate mail from supporters and haranguing from Billy Davies, the manager at the time.
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“We can't pre-judge what's going to happen and it's our aim to put a competitive team out there to secure our status during the coming season,” Coates said. “It's going to be tough - but it's been tough in the division we're coming out of, believe me. There's nothing new in football and while the Premier League is a new experience for us, and we will not underestimate the task ahead, it's our job to make it work.
“I would hope we have a buffer of support from our fans. Everyone's impressed with what we've achieved and that's been down to a combination of Tony Pulis's exceptional management skills and what he's brought out of these players, and the financial support from our family business. All of our fans are relieved at what we've achieved at long last. Although this has been our longest period out of the top division [23 years], we have to realise how much football has changed since the advent of the Premier League [in 1992].
“There is much less of a level playing field in the game now, but what with the parachute payments and the fan base that clubs tend to keep once they have experienced the Premier League, it has been as hard as can be getting out of the Coca-Cola Championship. I've always said it would be harder to get up than to stay up. That will be put to the test now. I'm sure those people who have been up and come down will disagree.”
As he prepared to set out on an open-top bus ride around the city, Coates was stopped outside the ground by many supporters wishing him well, buying replica shirts and renewing season tickets. Stoke have sold about 10,000. “We'd like it to be 20,000, but I envisage us selling out throughout the season,” Coates said.
A statue of Gordon Banks will go up outside the Britannia this summer, to accompany the one of Matthews. Does the chairman believe that they will be erecting one of Pulis if Stoke consolidate back at the higher level next season? “I hope so,” Coates said. “What he's achieved for the club has been very special and I would like to see him go down in the folklore of the club. This should be the start of a very special time for us.”
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Post by Done it for scfcbuxton on May 7, 2008 6:57:30 GMT
A statue of Gordon Banks will go up outside the Britannia this summer, to accompany the one of Matthews. Does the chairman believe that they will be erecting one of Pulis if Stoke consolidate back at the higher level next season? “I hope so,” Coates said. “What he's achieved for the club has been very special and I would like to see him go down in the folklore of the club. This should be the start of a very special time for us.” Surely one would have to go up of Waddo first |
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