Stoke City not yachts or private jets is what matters to Peter Coates | Football | The Guardian Stoke City Stoke City not yachts or private jets is what matters to Peter Coates Peter Coates is worth £1.2bn but the son of a miner and first world war hero has stayed close to his roots – reflected in how he runs Stoke and his views on how fans should benefit from TV riches Thursday 2 April 2015 17.00 EDT Last modified on Monday 4 April 2016 09.25 EDT Share on Messenger Close Peter Coates hardly ever misses a Stoke City game but now and again he likes to take a winter break. This season, the Stoke chairman looked through the fixtures at the back end of January, weighed up the merits of a trip to Spotland on a Monday evening in the FA Cup fourth round or a holiday in Miami, and felt it was time to get away. Yet it was not quite as straightforward a decision as some might think and come the day of the match, Coates was wandering the streets of Miami trying to find a bar showing what was happening back in Rochdale. “The first one I went in I got nowhere,” he says.

“I went in the second one and it was called Linnigans. The guy was at the bar with the remote control and I said: ‘What football have you got on?’ He said: ‘What do you want to watch?’ I said: ‘Rochdale-Stoke.’ So he flicked about, found it and said he would put it on the big screen. So can you imagine, I’m in Miami, ask for Rochdale-Stoke and there it is. There were four of us, it was happy hour as well, so the drinks were half-price. It doesn’t get any better than that, does it?” Coates looks chuffed to bits telling the story. He is something of a rarity – an English owner of a top-flight club he grew up supporting in the city where he was born. He lives and breathes Stoke, so much so he says he has never given a second’s thought to how much the club he paid £4.5m for in 2006, when he returned for a second spell eight years after being hounded out, would be worth on the market now. “Me and my family, we don’t look at Stoke as a business,” Coates says.

“For us it’s something important for the area and something we want to do.” When Coates talks about his family, he is referring specifically to Denise, his daughter, and John, his son. Together the three of them run Bet365, the hugely successful online betting company which owns the club, employs more than 2,500 people in Stoke and announced a pre-tax profit of £319m last year. The Sunday Times Rich List puts the family fortune at £1.2bn. Coates, sitting behind his desk at Bet365’s offices, smiles when that figure is mentioned. “I don’t take any notice of that sort of thing.” He sounds entirely genuine. The youngest of 14 children and the son of a miner who served in the first world war, Coates was brought up by his sister, Irene, after his mother died when he was two. He has stayed in touch with his working-class roots, despite the size of his bank balance, and remains a longstanding supporter of the Labour party. “My political views haven’t changed with greater wealth; I don’t think they should,” Coates says.

“I’m lucky enough to be able to afford whatever I want but I don’t want to own a yacht or a private jet or anything like that – it holds no appeal to me. I don’t like that kind of environment. It’s not where I’ve come from. “I grew up in a very strong Catholic family. I think there is some connection with things like that. I think government should be on the side of the poor, not the rich. Well-off people can look after themselves – and do. Whereas the biggest challenge for us, as a society, is what we do for the bottom 20% and how we can help them to have better lives, with education being a huge key to do that.” In that context, it is not surprising Coates feels strongly about how football spends its riches, in particular the £5.1bn broadcast deal that kicks in from the start of the 2016-17 campaign. Coates talks about the importance of keeping ticket prices low, mentions the fact Stoke have offered their supporters free coach travel to every Premier League away game for the past two seasons and nods when it is put to him that gate receipts generally account for very little compared with other revenue streams.

“I think that’s true with every football club [in the Premier League] and therefore, in my view, it gives us – us being football in general – an opportunity to make sure supporters benefit from the kind of money we’re getting from the media,” Coates says. “I’m only responsible for Stoke City, nobody will take kindly to me telling them what to do and I’m not going to. But that is our view and I hope that will happen throughout the game.” Courteous and generous with his time, Coates comes across as a gentleman, yet there is a fierce determination. He raises a legitimate grievance when expressing his annoyance that Stoke, who are on course to finish in the top half for the second year running, do not get the wider recognition they deserve – “We suffer from being what I would call an unfashionable club” – and he is not afraid to speak out from time to time, as he demonstrated earlier in the season when he accused referees of “bias towards other teams” and was fined £5,000 by the Football Association for his comments.

Asked about Greg Dyke’s proposals to increase the number of homegrown players in the top flight and the FA chairman’s “fear” that “the future of English football is the Premier League ends up being owned by foreigners, managed by foreigners and played by foreigners”, Coates delivers an interesting response. “I think that’s pretty well over the top. I can understand him saying it but I think it’s a great exaggeration,” says Coates, who used to sit on the FA Council. “I actually think we’re getting somewhere. We’re trying very hard at Stoke City, we’re desperate to produce players who will play in our first team. We’re spending a lot of money on it, as is every other club. It’s actually working. There’s no doubt, technically, our young players are getting better. I think we overdo the doom and gloom about these things. Frankly, we messed up in Brazil. Did we make the most of what we’ve got? Not by a million miles. South Africa, I was there, the same thing. So have we made the most of the player pool we’ve had?

I think we’ve underachieved.” Growing foreign ownership is an interesting subject to broach with Coates, especially with Stoke visiting Chelsea on Saturday. Unless Roman Abramovich breaks with tradition, the Chelsea owner will not be joining Coates in the boardroom before the game. Coates has no qualms with that and makes the point that the Russian “takes a great interest in the club” and watches the majority of matches, which is not the case with everyone else. “I have met [Abramovich] but he normally keeps himself to himself on a matchday; he has his own little area,” Coates says. “I don’t think you can tell clubs what to do. You get owners now that you don’t see much of: Manchester United, Manchester City and Liverpool to name but three. That’s because of foreign ownership but they have their man in place, I get on perfectly well with the guys they’ve got there and you have to accept it for what it is.” It not surprising to learn that some of the Stoke fans who turned on Coates in his first spell, when the club was relegated to the third tier, have personally apologised and thanked him for what he has done since returning.

Coates estimates his family have put £80m in over the past nine years and, although the motive for owning Stoke is not financial, Coates is pleased the club is moving towards become self-sustaining. “The last set of accounts, I believe, will show we’re collectively in surplus, so that’s a big turnaround.” Surveying the wider picture, Coates says that the financial fairplay rules introduced by Uefa and the Premier League have been a force for good and helped to curb a culture of wild overspending that left most clubs in the red. “To have the richest league in the world and these losses, that’s got to be pretty stupid by any yardstick,” he says. “So it’s good it’s turned round, so it should and so it should remain.” Stoke continue to evolve on and off the field. One of the biggest decisions Coates, his son, John, and Tony Scholes, the chief executive, have made as a board was to part company with Tony Pulis a little under two years ago. Coates insists criticism of Pulis’s style of football was never a factor and says the two of them remain extremely close. “We just thought it was time for a change and I think it was a good judgment call.

I also think that it’s worked brilliantly for Tony. He performed a miracle at Crystal Palace and now he’s the go-to man – if you’re in trouble, give Tony a ring.” Mark Hughes was appointed as Pulis’s replacement and the extended contract, running until 2019, that the Welshman signed last week provides a measure of how highly he is regarded at Stoke. Just how far they can go under Hughes is an interesting question. Coates agrees with the manager that Stoke could get to a point where they reach a glass ceiling, although he stresses they are not there yet. “Southampton are showing that clubs can get there and compete,” he says. “If we could have a season like that, we’d be as pleased as they are. You might even talk about us a bit more.” Coates’s own story is certainly worthy of being told and includes some fascinating tales from his childhood and the remarkable life his father lived. After signing up with the York & Lancaster Regiment, Leonard Coates fought in the battles at Loos, Arras and Vimy Ridge during the first world war and was awarded the Military Medal for holding up a German advance with a machine gun. “I talk about the inequalities of this society we live in.

My dad fought in the first world war, goes back into the mines, he was on the General Strike in 1926 and he got fined for picking coal on the tips. Can you believe it? I don’t think I’ve told that story before but it’s true. Extraordinary, really, that that could happen, and it was a ‘land fit for heroes’,” he says, referencing the prime minister David Lloyd George’s pledge in the 1918 election campaign. It is tempting to wonder what Coates’s father would think if he could see what his son has achieved. Not that Coates wants to shout about his success. He is more than happy for Denise and John to take the credit – “They’re the stars, not me” – while quietly going about his business, just as he did on that day in Miami, when the barman in Linnigans had no idea that he was turning the TV over so that one of the wealthiest men in Britain could watch his favourite football team. “He was oblivious, and the game didn’t register with him at all,” Coates says. “Rochdale-Stoke, there it is.

It did make me smile.” Peter Coates: Stoke City chairman content with the Potters' three ninths in a row - BBC Sport BBC Sport Peter Coates: Stoke City chairman content with the Potters' three ninths in a row 19 May Read more about sharing. Stoke City's 1-0 Capital One Cup semi-final second leg win against Liverpool at Anfield in January so nearly provided the high point of their season, only to be beaten on penalties Stoke City chairman Peter Coates says he is satisfied with his club's feat of finishing ninth in the Premier League for the third straight season. The Potters' points total of 51 was slightly down on their 2014-15 Premier League best of 54 points. But Stoke suffered an injury list that robbed them of key players like skipper Ryan Shawcross and Jack Butland. "If you look at the the injury list we've had a pretty good season," Coates told BBC Radio Stoke. "We're doing pretty well. We almost got to a final. We only narrowly lost in the League Cup semi-final to Liverpool and we've finished ninth three times. That is a good season.

"We were just disappointed as we were in a nice position and wanted to kick on and do better." Stoke might have been the team who featured in the last match on Match Of the Day most often in 2015-16, but they attracted their highest average home crowd for more than 50 years. They averaged close to 27,500 fans for their 19 Premier League home games at the Britannia Stadium. The Potters' pile-up of injuries Even as late in the season as March, Mark Hughes' side got as high in the table as seventh, still knocking on the door for a European place. But, ultimately, although managing the notable achievement of finishing above 2014-15 Premier League champions Chelsea, they lost too many players. England goalkeeper Butland missed the final seven matches, of which the Potters won just one, with the fractured ankle that will keep him out of Euro 2016. Shawcross missed almost half the season with his recurring back injury, making only 20 starts, a massive irony in the light of the Potters having allowed Robert Huth to join Leicester City in February 2015.

In addition to that, summer signing Glen Johnson missed 13 matches and Bojan Krkic only started 22 games. They then finished the season with the loss of midfielder Stephen Ireland, who broke his leg in training. Analysis BBC Radio Stoke's Matt Sandoz "Mark Hughes again proved that he has turned Stoke into a solid top-half team. "A third consecutive ninth-placed finish is an excellent achievement considering the staggering amount of injuries the club have had to deal with. "The form in the last couple of months naturally took the focus away from what has been another successful campaign. "The frustration has been the inconsistency at home. With minor improvements, Stoke could have mounted a serious challenge for a Europa League place. "Home wins over Chelsea, Manchester City and Manchester United and narrowly missing out on a League Cup final should not be overlooked." Share this page Peter Coates: Premier League riches key to Stoke transfer power - BBC Sport BBC Sport Peter Coates: Premier League riches key to Stoke transfer power By Dan Wheeler Read more about sharing.

Peter Coates says watching Stoke clinch promotion to the Premier League in 2008 was the best moment of his life in football Stoke City have been able to transform their spending power because of the financial riches of the Premier League, says Potters chairman Peter Coates. Stoke recently broke their transfer record to sign Inter winger Xherdan Shaqiri - one of nine summer arrivals. "If Stoke City can stay up we get, roughly, an extra £40m - that's a huge chunk of money," Coates said. "We've probably got a larger budget than most teams in Europe and we can compete with the world's top teams." Media playback is not supported on this device Xherden Shaqiri scores wonder goal at World Cup The Premier League's new record £5bn TV deal comes into effect next season and Coates is very aware of its effect on the 20 teams in the top flight. "If we can get the best players - they tend to follow the money - it shows you what a powerful league it is. It's a phenomena," he continued. "There's nothing near it globally.

It's seen in 900 million homes a week and by two billion viewers." Coates has put around £100m of his own fortune into the club since returning for a second spell as chairman in 2006. In a wide-ranging interview with BBC Radio Stoke, he talked about the continued development of the Potters and his hopes going into an eighth consecutive season in English football's top division. The Britannia Stadium and Clayton Wood training complex The 27,743 capacity Britannia Stadium has been Stoke's home since 1997 "We've spent a lot of money on the stadium," said Coates. "You never stop working on them. We've got a new training ground and that helps getting players in. "There was a time when you'd avoid taking new players around your training ground and stadium. "Clayton Wood's a great project. People come and are very impressed. It will be valuable to Stoke City for the foreseeable future. Likewise, the stadium." Bringing through 'a few of their own' Despite the increased spending power that the Premier League brings, Coates knows the long-term value of a healthy and productive academy.

Developing more home-grown talent, able to cut it at the top, is a major aim. "That's a huge part of it - we want to get the best young players at the club," he said. "We focus locally first and foremost and we want to give them the best chance of being successful. "We're desperate to produce players who can play in the Premier League and we want to have four players in our squad that have come through the system. We're not there yet, there's work to do, but that's what we're driving for." Stoke's latest academy graduate Midfielder Ollie Shenton, 17, made his debut against Portsmouth in the League Cup in August 2014 and got a first taste of the Premier League as a late substitute against Manchester City in February. The 'style' question Mark Hughes (right) became Stoke's 36th manager when he replaced Tony Pulis in May 2013 Rightly or wrongly, under former manager Tony Pulis, the Potters were pilloried for having a one-dimensional reputation - knock it long. Under his successor Mark Hughes, that accusation has been rendered redundant. Coates, though, has an open mind about different styles.

He said: "I never talk to a manager about how to play - that's a job for them. I've long felt that there's no one way to play football. I'm a pragmatist and believe you've got to win. "I didn't say 'you've got to play like Barcelona' - that would be silly. "Mark inherited a team that had a certain style of play but one of the first things Mark said to me was how good the players were." Expectations for 2015-16 With more big-name players on big money in their squad, the pressure on Stoke to have a successful season is higher than ever. Matching their ninth place and record Premier League points tally from last term is the target. But Coates knows that will be a real challenge, adding: "I'm always more apprehensive because you're held responsible. "We know how tough it is but we think we've got a good squad and think we can have a good season. "I used to despair about ever getting to the Premier League and, having got there, worrying about staying there. I think it's fair to say we've had one of our most successful periods, possibly the most successful ever.

"If we can emulate or better last season, I'll be delighted." Share this page Peter Coates Search Peter Coates Stoke City Football Club chairman Peter Coates is enjoying his second spell at the club which is celebrating it’s promotion to the English Premier League. Born in Goldenhill, Stoke-on-Trent and the son of a miner, Peter began his career in the catering and gambling industries with Stadia and Lindley Catering and Provincial Racing respectively. In 1974, Peter bought three betting shops which would prove to be the start of the Provincial Racing chain which consists of 49 shops across the country. Peter moved into online gambling in 2000, prompted by his daughter Denise, and Bet365 was born. In July 2005 he sold his betting shops for £40 million to concentrate on the online business. Bet365 is estimated to be worth in the region of £175 million catapulting Peter into the top 25 richest people in British football. A lifelong Stoke City fan, Peter first became actively involved with the Potters in 1985 when he was appointed to the club’s board.

He was made Chairman in 1989 and initiated the club’s move from the Victoria Ground to the newly built Britannia Stadium. During his first spell with the club, Peter witnessed the team’s relegation to the old Football League Third Division, before achieving promotion from the now renamed Second Division to the Championship. He stepped down as Chairman in 1997 following a string of bad performances, but remained a majority shareholder of the club until finally being bought out in 1999 by an Icelandic consortium. Peter returned to his position as Stoke City Football Club Chairman during 2005. He paid £1.7 million to buy back the club and a further £3.3 million to cancel the debts. Upon his return, Peter’s aim was to take the stable Championship side into Premiership within five years; a dream which was recently achieved with the club’s second place finish this season. Premier League's richest owners: How much is YOUR club's ownership worth? - Mirror Online Sport Premier League's richest owners: How much is YOUR club's ownership worth?

The self proclaimed best league in the world, flushed with yet more Sky and BT TV cash, now has more money than ever Share Get football updates directly to your inbox + Subscribe Thank you for subscribing! Could not subscribe, try again laterInvalid Email The Premier League is the playground of the rich and famous - and that's not just those on the pitch. While the stars of the show are paid like kings those who own the clubs they play for very nearly actually are. The self proclaimed #bestleagueintheworld, flushed with yet more Sky and BT TV cash, now has more money than ever. But which club's owner boasts the most dough? Here are the Premier League's owners and just how much they're worth: 20. Norwich - Delia Smith/Michael Wynn Jones - £23million Britain's most famous TV cook is a lifelong Canary and alongside husband Michael were invited to invest in the Carrow Road club in hard financial times. A wholly positive influence on the club her interest was questioned after her infamous on-pitch "let's be having you" rant in 2005. Video Loading Watch Next 19.

Swansea - The Morgan family - £32million Entrepreneur Morgan and his wife launched a travel agency in 1992 and after much success sold it to Thomson seven years later. A relatively understated owner Morgan was thrust into the limelight in January 2013 when his ballboy son, Charlie - then 17 - was kicked by Chelsea's Eden Hazard. (Photo: Action Images) 18. Everton - Bill Kenwright - £33million Kenwright made his money as a West End theatre producer and achieved critical acclaim for high profile shows such as Blood Brothers and Joseph and his Technicolour Dreamcoat. He is often less acclaimed at Everton where a number of fans regularly query his lack of investment in the club and his perceived reticence in selling up to a richer benefactor. (Photo: Jan Kruger) 17. Crystal Palace - Steve Parish - £45million A marketing expert by trade Parish, alongside three other businessman, saved Palace from administration in 2010 when they successfully took over the club after negotiating a deal with creditors. A vocal supporter of the club Parish is a outspoken voice on all things Eagles and regularly converses with fans on social media.

(Photo: Jamie McDonald) 16. West Brom - Jeremy Peace - £50million* An established accountant, broker and banker Peace worked his way up through the business world before joining the Baggies board in 2000. Peace was famous for the rigid structure he put in place at The Hawthorns but has softened that stance since hiring Tony Pulis, amid continued speculation he is looking to sell the club. (Photo: Nigel Roddis) 15. Bournemouth - Maxim Demin - £100million* Famous for not being famous Demin is the quiet and unassuming money man behind Bournemouth's fairytale. The Russian businessman became Cherries co-owner in 2011 and has since helped oversee a meteoric rise all the way to the Premier League. (Photo: BNPS) 14. Watford - Giampaolo Pozzo - £120million* An Italian businessman Pozzo is part of the family who own three football clubs, Udinese, Granada and Watford.

Oft criticised for their use of the loan market and wheeling and dealing players between the three Pozzo has guided the Hornets back into the Premier League and a significant spend in the summer of 2015. (Photo: Richard Heathcote) 13. Aston Villa - Randy Lerner - £640million The American entrepreneur made his way in the business world with various investment firms before being handed the Cleveland Browns NFL franchise in 2002 when his father Al died. Four years later Lerner bought out Doug Ellis at Aston Villa for over £60million going on to help fund a period of wild success under manager Martin O'Neill. In May 2014 Lerner announced his intention to try and sell the club but as yet has been unable to find a buyer. (Photo: Getty) 12. West Ham - David Sullivan - £850million Alongside partner in crime David Gold, Sullivan took control of West Ham in 2010 acquiring a 50% stake in the club, with Karren Brady joining as vice-chairman.

Previously famous for his porn empire Sullivan has gone to negotiate the Hammers' controversial switch to the Olympic Stadium from the start of the 2016 season. (Photo: AFP) 11. Stoke City - The Coates family - £925million Peter Coates and the Coates family rose to prominence with the rise of Bet365 but Coates himself was majority shareholder of the club before that. In two spells as owner, notably the second, Coates has seen the establishment of Stoke as a Premier League club and a European campaign 2011-12. (Photo: Ian Walton) 10. Liverpool - John Henry - £1billion A prolific sports franchise owner in the US, Henry and the Fenway Sports Group became household names on these shores when they took over Liverpool in 2011. Not a stranger to controversy Henry sacked club legend Kenny Dalglish as boss in 2012 and kept Brendan Rodgers in a job this summer despite widespread calls for him to go. Responded to Arsenal's £40,000,001 offer for Luis Suarez with the now infamous "what are they smoking" tweet. (Photo: Michael Regan) 9.

Leicester - Vichai Srivaddhanaprabha - £1.4billion The founder of CEO of King Power Duty Free, Srivaddhanaprabha bought Leicester in August 2010 following a three-year shirt sponsorship deal. Now chairman with his son, Aiyawatt, vice-chairman he bankrolled the Foxes back into the Premier League before controversially sacking manager Nigel Pearson on the eve of the 2015/16 season. (Photo: Action Images) 8. Southampton - Katharina Liebherr - £1.9billion Katharina rose to more public prominence when she took over from father Markus in charge in 2010 when he sadly passed away from a sudden heart attack. Not at all popular in 2014 after overseeing the sale of a number of first team stars fans appear to have warmed to her after the appointment of Ronald Koeman as manager and the impressive 2014/15 Premier League season. (Photo: ©The Digital South Ltd) 7.

Sunderland - Ellis Short - £2.4billion An Irish-American businessman Short founded private equity fund Kildare Partners before gaining a controlling interest in Sunderland in 2008. The fourth American owner of a Premier League club has wielded the axe a number of times but is yet to taste relegation with several narrow escapes achieved under his stewardship. (Photo: Getty) 6. Manchester United - The Glazer family - £3billion After the collapse of the Magnier-McManus ownership the Glazers first moved in to purchase shares in United in 2003 and after two years of manoeuvring finally established majority control in 2005. Not at all popular with fans - some even broke away to form FC United of Manchester - their PR only got worse with numerous refinancing efforts with the club and its assets effectively used as collateral. Malcolm Glazer died aged 85 in 2014 but his death didn't cause any significant changes in how the club was run with sons Joel and Avram taking control as joint-chairmen. (Photo: PA) 5.

Newcastle - Mike Ashley - £3.5billion A self-made billionaire Ashley made his fortune in the sportswear industry, specifically the Sports Direct franchise. Ashley hit the headlines on the back pages when in 2007 he bought a 41% share in Newcastle before going on to acquire a controlling stake when chairman Freddy Shepherd stepped down in 2007. An intensely private person Ashley has come under fire for his perceived lack of ambition, his reticence to invest fully in the club and his refusal to engage with fans. (Photo: Getty) 4. Arsenal - Stan Kroenke - £4billion An American entrepreneur Kroenke joined Arsenal's board in 2008. Three years later he increased his shareholding to 63% after purchasing the stakes of Danny Fiszman and Lady Nina Bracewell-Smith. Another who is happy to take a back seat Kroenke rarely gives interviews frustrating Gunners fans with his reticence to talk openly about club business and his intentions. (Photo: Getty) 3.

Tottenham - Joe Lewis - £4.9billion A British billionaire who made his money in currency trading Lewis is the main investor with the Tavistock Group which in turn own a wide variety of concerns including Tottenham. Lewis is one of the richest men in world, with Forbes ranking him as the tenth wealthiest Briton in 2014. (Photo: Action) 2. Chelsea - Roman Abramovich - £5.3billion Perhaps the most notorious owner in British sport Abramovich is one of the world's wealthiest individuals having amassed a gigantic personal fortune from the oil, steel and mining industries in his native Russia. In buying Chelsea for some $400million in 2003 Abramovich changed the landscape of English football forever and has gone to bankroll the greatest period of success in the club's history. Equally as famous for his penchant for sacking as he is for his reserved nature Abramovich is yet to be interviewed publicly despite being possibly the single most dominant and influential figure in the game over the last decade. After a volatile early period in the English top flight Jose Mourinho's return seems to have mellowed him in what perhaps could see a more stable period going forward. (Photo: Getty) 1.

Manchester City - Mansour bin Zayed Al Nahyan - £20billion If Abramovich changed Chelsea then Sheikh Mansour transformed Manchester City in all recognition. In buying them for £200million in 2008 Mansour made City the richest club in English football history overnight. As chairman of the Abu Dhabi United Group Mansour has overseen a colossal spend which has seen some of the world's finest players move to the Etihad. That investment has brought unrivalled success to the club with two Premier League titles as well as several Champions League campaigns, albeit up to now not with the success the club are aspiring to. With no signs of the investment drying up and coupled with the relaxation of UEFA's FFP regulations Mansour is sure to see City continue their assault on the game both at home and abroad in the coming years.

poll loading Peter Coates: 'People cite Stoke as a model club but I'm not taken in' | Football | The Guardian Stoke City Peter Coates: 'People cite Stoke as a model club but I'm not taken in' The Stoke City owner reflects on Stoke's rise and his own journey from a childhood of profound deprivation Peter Coates has gone from 'the devil incarnate to St Peter' in the eyes of fans at the Britannia Stadium. Photograph: Gary M Prior/Getty Images Friday 13 May 2011 10.38 EDT First published on Friday 13 May 2011 10.38 EDT Share on Messenger Close At the workaday offices of bet365, the online gambling company that has made his second fortune, Stoke City's owner, Peter Coates, is reflecting on his club's landmark run to their first FA Cup final, and his own remarkable life. Whether talking about the revival he has engineered at a football club that was playing in what is now League One as recently as 2002, or his personal journey from a Potteries childhood of profound deprivation, he speaks with the same measured calm.

Coates talks like a man who remembers where he has come from and, in football at least, how quickly success can melt away. "People are citing Stoke as a model club, for how to win promotion and compete in the Premier League," he says, "but I'm not taken in by any of that. They said it about Ipswich, Charlton, and several other clubs doing well, but it is so easy for football to go wrong." Having made his first millions in catering at football grounds, Coates was Stoke's owner when they were relegated to the third tier in 1998 following a final-day defeat to this weekend's opponents Manchester City, who went down a division with them. The fans, raised like Coates on pride in the club's great age, on Stanley Matthews in the 1950s and the early 1970s team featuring Gordon Banks, Dennis Smith and Jimmy Greenhoff, vented their fury – at one point even storming the Britannia Stadium's corporate areas, calling for Coates's head. "I believe that if the manager Lou Macari had stayed, we would have gone up into the Premier League," Coates says.

"But Lou left [in 1997], and things go wrong in football. I left, sold the club to an Icelandic consortium, because the abuse and disenchantment after relegation weren't good for me or the club." While the Icelanders and the compatriot they appointed as manager, Gudjon Thordarson, were discovering that Premier League gold was more difficult to reach than they imagined, bet365 was riding the gambling tidal wave unleashed by the internet. Coates credits his daughter, Denise – he always describes her as "very clever", proudly reporting her first in econometrics from Sheffield University – with bet365's success, much as he cites Pulis's contribution to Stoke's rise after Coates bought the club back. "Fortunately my circumstances changed because of bet365," he says. "The Icelandics were decent people but found, as most of us do, that football is immensely difficult. I felt there was unfinished business and bought the club back.

That was five years ago this month, which have been amazing: the play-offs in the first season, promotion in 2008, three seasons in the Premier League and now the FA Cup final." Malcolm Clarke, chairman of the Football Supporters' Federation, a Stoke fan, says wryly that Coates's stock among fans has now been reversed, "from the devil incarnate to St Peter". Coates stayed on the board during the Icelanders' time, and admired Pulis's professionalism during his first stint in charge, from 2002 to2005, although the manager, and his style of play, were not beloved of the fans. "I believed Tony was the right manager to appoint when I came back," he says. "Although that wasn't universally popular, I have learned that as a chairman you could make a popular appointment, but still get the blame if it goes wrong. So you should do what you believe in." Pulis's rebuilding, and relentless attention to detail, have been supported with investment from Coates and his family, who own the club via bet365.

They have paid £43m into Stoke since 2006; £7m built a new training ground, much of the rest boosted Pulis's player budget. Last year the family converted £24m from loans to permanent investment in shares. Coates is prepared to invest more, while intending to make the club self-financing now it is establishing itself in the Premier League. The discussion about his family's multimillion-pound restoration of Stoke City illustrates how far Coates has travelled from the poverty of his childhood in Stoke's Goldenhill neighbourhood. He was the youngest of 14 children; his father was a miner and his mother died when Peter was only two. Yet he remembers those beginnings surprisingly fondly. "I don't believe I am looking back with rose-tinted spectacles," he says. "It was the best community I have ever lived in. Everybody in the street knew each other, we had lots of friends. Because my mother had died, everybody wanted to look after me.

Everybody had nothing, so we were all equal really." He left school at 14 for a job as a clerk in a pottery, and through early office work began to look for business opportunities, his breakthrough coming in football catering in the late 1960s. Throughout his progress to wealth, he has remained a lifelong supporter – and substantial funder – of the Labour Party, describing himself as being towards the right in economic terms – "I believe in competition, a market economy" – but left wing in social terms. "I have always believed a government should be there for the less well-off, and Labour will do that, whereas the Conservatives will not, although they may pay lip service to it," he says of his political views. "I believe we need strong investment in health and education – I've never liked private education. Whenever Labour gets in, we always have to repair the damage, the Conservatives' lack of investment in the country's infrastructure, and now that is happening again." All of which makes Coates, he believes, the only Labour supporter among the generally right-wing owners of Premier League football clubs.

His initiation to the old Victoria Ground was a working-class boy's classic epiphany, as JB Priestley famously described, of the turnstiles transporting him to "an altogether more splendid world". And today, aged 71, he will be at Wembley to see his club play their first FA Cup final in 148 years of history. "I am just absolutely delighted; it's brilliant for the club, the supporters and the whole area," Coates says, beaming. Then he adds, with characteristic humility: "I just hope we give a good account of ourselves, put in a good performance." How the English Premier League Clubs' Owners Got Rich | Mental Floss UK Videos How the English Premier League Clubs' Owners Got Rich The English Premier League is now the second richest in the world after the NFL. But where do its owners get their money? Kenny Hemphill google+ Following a TV deal that has seen television rights to English Premier League football break $5bn - Sky, for one, is paying 70% more than last time - it's become the second richest sports league in the world behind the NFL. But who owns the clubs, and how did they make their money?

Arsenal Owner: Stan Kroenke The numbers: Kroenke is estimated to be worth £2.4bn Silent Stan is one of a number of American owners of EPL clubs. Kroenke first became wealthy buying and selling commercial land. But after forming Kroenke Sports Enterprises, he acquired stakes in the NFL’s St. Louis Rams, NBA’s Denver Nuggets, NHL’s Colorado Avalanche, AFL’s Colorado Crush, MLS’ Colorado Rapids and NLL’s Colorado Mammoth. He also owns the Pepsi Center in Denver, Colorado. Kroenke has owned a majority stake in Arsenal since 2007 and since then has been hoovering up more stock from existing shareholders. He's very much a hands-off boss though, and leaves the running of the club to chief executive Ivan Gazidas and chairman Sir Chips Keswick. Aston Villa Owner: Randy Lerner The numbers: Lerner is reckoned to be worth £1bn Lerner might just be the most reluctant billionaire owner of an EPL club, having unsuccessfully tried to sell the club in the summer.

A former owner of the Cleveland Browns NFL team, which he inherited from his father in 2002, Randy Lerner is one of several EPL owners who made their fortune on the financial markets. Columbia Law School graduate Lerner started his own firm, Securities Advisors, Inc. in 1991 and two years later became a director of US bank MBNA, where his dad Al Lerner was chairman. Lerner took on the role of MBNA chairman in 2002 after AL's death and helped sell the bank to Bank of America in 2006. Lerner donated £5m to the National Portrait Gallery in 2008, and the ground floor was re-named The Lerner Galleries in recognition of what was at the time, the biggest single donation it had ever received. Burnley Owners: John Banaszkiewicz and Mike Garlick Estimated wealth: unknown Lifelong Clarets fans Banaszkiewicz and Garlick took control of the club in 2012 when then chairman Barry Kilby setpped down. Since then the two are believed to have invested £10m in the club as it bid for promotion to the Premier League.

Banaszkiewicz made his money trading in ocean freight and freight futures. He co-founded Freight Investor Services Ltd UK in 2002. Garlick started his working live as an IT salesman with NCR in the 1980s. He started his own IT consultancy, MBA PLC in 1989 and ten years later the company became the first profitable British firm to float on Nasdaq. Chelsea Owner: Roman Abramovich The numbers: Abramovich is worth around $8.4bn Abramovich's wealth is the stuff of legend. A decade after the fall of communism, he was a billionaire several times over. The right place at the right time? Lucky? You could say that. By the mid-90s, Abramovich had set up and liquidated around 20 companies, as well as building wealth in oil companies and pig farms. He was imprisoned in 1992 for theft of government property. On his release from prison in 1995, he re-kindled his friendship with Boris Berezovsky, an associate of then President, Boris Yeltsin. Together, Roman and Boris acquired a controlling interest in oil company, Sibneft.

Each paid $100m for half the company, a fraction of its stock market value. Sibneft's value rose dramatically over the next few years, and Abramovich later admitted in court that he had bribed government officials and obtained protection from gangsters to buy Sibneft and other assets. No such skullduggery was required when Abramovich bought Chelsea from Ken Bates in 2003, after which he poured millions of pounds into the club, allowing it to break transfer fee records as it set about building a world-beating squad. The club, now valued at £588 million by Forbes, has made a loss every year since Abramovich took over, with the exception of 2012 when it made £200,000 profit. Crystal Palace Owner: CPFC 2010 Ltd. The numbers: CPFC 2010 Ltd acquired Crystal Palace FC from its administrator under a company voluntary arrangement. It also bought Selhurst Park from Lloyds Bank. The consortium CPFC 2010 Ltd is jointly owned by Steve Parish, Martin Long, Stephen Browett and Jeremy Hosking, each of whom holds a 25% stake.

Long co-founded insurance company Direct Line in 1985. He left in 1989 and set up another insurance company, Churchill, which he sold to RBS in 2001 for £50m. Hosking made his fortune, estimated by The Sunday Times to be £330m via investment and private equity. In October it was reported that the consortium was on the verge of reaching an agreement to sell the club to American businessman Josh Harris. Everton Owner: Bill Kenwright The numbers: Kenwright is estimated to be worth £33m Theatre impressario Kenwright has been on the Everton board since 1989 and has been the largest stakeholder and chairman since 2004. Despite several attempts to secure investment, and much unhappiness among the fans about lack of investment and uncertainty over the club's long term future, Kenwright remains in control. One of the UK's most successful theatre producer's, Kenwrights biggest hits include Blood Brothers, the UK national tour of Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat, and the 2011 London West End production of The Wizard of Oz.

Hull City AFC Owner: Assem Allam The numbers: Allam is believed to be worth £240m and bought Hull City for £1 in 2010. One of the EPL's most controversial figures, Allam announced in 2013 that he intended to change the name of the club to Hull City Tigers and would remove all references to AFC from the club's branding. Fans protested, and in 2014 the FA rejected the proposal. Allam said he would appeal. Born in Egypt, Allam came to the UK in 1968 and began his working life as an accountant. After the company he ran, Tempest Diesel Limited was put into receivership, he formed an industrial manufacturing company Allam Marine Limited where he made his fortune. Leicester City Owner: Vichai Srivaddhanaprabha The numbers: Vichai Srivaddhanaprabha is estimated to be worth £1bn Having been the club's shirt sponsor for three years, Thai duty free business King Power bought the club from Milan Mandaric in 2010.

Or more accurately, a consortium led by King Power CEO and chairman Vichai Srivaddhanaprabha (formerly Vichai Raksriaksorn – the name Srivaddhanaprabha was bestowed on the family by the King of Thailand in 2013) bought the club. Vichai Srivaddhanaprabha made his money from King Power's duty free business. Liverpool Owner: Fenway Sports Group (John W Henry, Tom Werner) The numbers: FSG acquired Liverpool FC in 2010 for £300m. Henry is estimated to be worth £1bn while Werner is a comparative pauper with only £400m to his name. Founded by John W Henry and Tom Werner in 2001, FSG also owns the Boston Red Sox and has stakes in several other US sports groups, as well as owning the Red Sox stadium, Fenway Park. FSG took control of Liverpool in 2010 after the board voted to dump then owners Tom Hicks and George Gillette. Henry started his working life as a commodities trader and developed his own method for trading futures.

After building the company and his own personal wealth to the point where his estimated worth was over $1bn in 2006, Henry, who also owns the Boston Globe newspaper, scaled back the investment management of his company to focus on his sports companies. Werner is a TV producer, writer, and director who was executive producer of The Cosby Show, Roseanne, 3rd Rock from the Sun and That 70s Show. He made $600m from the syndication of episodes of The Cosby Show. Manchester City Owner: Sheikh Mansour The numbers: Sheikh Mansour is worth around £18.9bn, although the family as a whole is thought to be worth £90bn. Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Presidential Affairs of the UAE, and part of one of the world's wealthiest families, there's little mystery behind Sheikh Mansour's wealth. As well as running an oil company, he has staked in Virgin Galactic, Daimler, and Abu Dhabi Media Investment Corporation.

Since acquiring the club, Sheikh Mansour is believed to have poured around $150 million into it on players and staff, and has pledged another £50m for a state of the art training centre at Sportcity, next to the club's stadium. Manchester City has yet to make a profit under his ownership, but that didn't put him off buying another club, MLS newcomer New York City FC. Manchester United Owner: The Glazer family The numbers: The Glazers are worth several billion dollars. Father Malcolm was estimated to be worth around £2.7bn before his death in 2014. The short answer to how the Glazers acquired the money to buy Manchester United is that they borrowed it. More precisely, they borrowed it using loans, half of which were secured against the club - a tactic also used by former Liverpool owners Tom Hicks and George Gillette. Heaping debt on to Manchester United didn't endear them to the club's fans, nor did several share and bond issues which were used to raise more funds. Nevertheless, the Glazers remain in charge. Glazer senior started out as a jeweller, before moving into real estate investment and then buying a bank.

The family's holding company First Allied now owns stakes in several large US companies, including Harley Davidson and Formica. Glazer bought NFL team Tampa Bay Buccaneers in 1995. Newcastle United Owner: Mike Ashley The numbers: Ashley is worth around £1.68bn and spent a total of £133 million acquiring Newcastle United. He's since invested much more after discovering the club was deep in debt. Buckinghamshire-born Ashley is something of a controversial figure, who often prefers the stands at St James Park to the directors box. Sitting among the fans for home games, however, hasn't done much for his popularity in the North East and 'Ashley Out' banners are now as common a fixture at home games as Alan Shearer's name once was on the team sheet. Ashley's £133 million investment is small beer for a man whose net worth is measured in billions. Those billions come courtesy of Sports Direct, the chain of sports retail stores Ashley founded. Sports Direct is now publicly traded but Ashley retains 61% of the stock. The company reported a profit of £152m in 2013.

Queens Park Rangers Owner: Tony Fernandes The numbers: Fernandes is estimated to be worth £390m Another accountant (see also Assem Allam at Hull City), Fernandes was an auditor at Virgin Atlantic before becoming financial controller of Virgin Records in the late 80s. A spell at Warner Music, as its vice president for South East Asia, followed but when Time Warner swallowed AOL in 2001, Fernandes left to do his own thing. That thing turned out to be an airline business, following in the footsteps of his old boss, Richard Branson. Fernandes also owns a chain of hotels and, in 2010, founded the Lotus Racing (later Caterham F1 after Fernandes bought Caterham Cars) F1 team. He sold that in 2014. Southampton Owner: Katharina Liebherr The numbers: Liebherr is worth around £1.8bn Katharina Liebherr inherited both her £1.8bn fortune and the ownership of Southampton Football Club following the death of her father Markus in 2010.

Markus Liebherr died just a year after paying around £14m to buy the club from administrator Begbies Traynor, after its previous owner Southamption Leisure plc went bust. He made his fortune running several companies in Switzerland, all of them involved in design, engineering and manufacturing. Neither father or daughter ran the club directly, leaving it in the hands of Italian banker Nicola Cortese, until last year when he lost a power struggle with Katharina and left the club. Stoke City Owner: Peter Coates The numbers: Coates is reckoned to be worth £750m Catering and betting magnate Peter Coates is in his second spell in charge at the Britannia Stadium, having previously owned the club between 1989 and 1997. Coates bought the club back from the Icelandic consortium to whom he had sold it, for £1.7m plus £3.3m to cancel debts in 2005. Having served in the Parachute Regiment, Coates then worked for the Wimpy burger chain before starting his own catering company and, later, a local radio station.

The big money came, though, in 2000 when the family, led by Coates' daughter Denise, launched the Bet365 online betting platform. Sunderland Owner: Ellis Short The numbers: Short is worth £2.4bn US hedge fund boss, Short has owned Sunderland since 2008 and for several years formed part of a 'dream team' with former Black Cat and head of the consortium from which Short bought the club, Niall Quinn. The Irishman has now gone, but Short remains in charge, and has now taken on the role of chairman. Generous to a fault, Short once left a £3000 tip in a restaurant after what we assume must have been a particularly good meal. Swansea City Owner: Martin and Louisa Morgan The numbers: The Morgans are believed to be worth £30m - £40m Swansea City chairman Huw Jenkins is the public face of the consortium that owns the Welsh club. But it's Martin Morgan and his wife Louisa who are the biggest shareholders.

The Morgans made the bulk of their fortune when they sold their travel business to Thomson for £40m in 1999, having founded it in 1992. Tottenham Hotspur Owner: Joe Lewis The numbers: Lewis is estimated to be worth £2.5bn Technically, Spurs is owned by the ENIC Group, which in turn is owned by the Tavistock Group. As chairman and major shareholder in the Tavistock Group, though, Lewis is the closest thing the club has to a billionaire owner. Bahamanian Lewis made his money investing in majority stakes in over 200 companies – including oil and energy companies and banks – since the mid-seventies and now lives and works on a yacht on which he also stores his $1bn art collection. West Bromwich Albion Owner: Jeremy Peace The numbers: Peace is believed to be worth £40m - £50m Tough nut Peace runs West Brom 'with a rod of iron,' according to the Daily Express and has done since he became chairman in 2002. It was three years later, in 2005, that Peace took the club private and bought the major shareholding.

Another accountant (see also Hull City and QPR), Peace also worked as a stockbroker and investment banker. He's been a director and major shareholder in several companies. West Ham United Derby chairman Morris unveils his vision for the future | Football News | Sky Sports Derby chairman Morris unveils his vision for the future By Rob Dorsett, Sky Sports News HQ Last Updated: 08/06/15 4:36pm Sky Sports News reporter Rob Dorsett speaks to new Derby County chairman Mel Morris about his vision for the Rams. The club have branded this #thenextchapter. And so it is. For the new season, Derby County will have a new head coach, a new chairman and a new optimism that having come close in the last two seasons, this time next year, the club will be preparing for life in the Premier League. Last week, the club confirmed that Mel Morris had taken over as chairman and would soon complete a deal to become the club’s major shareholder. It’s now clear that Morris IS Derby’s future, having been a significant figure in the club’s past.

He was part of the consortium which took over at Derby in 2006, and was still a director when Derby were last in the Premier League in 2007/8. That season became infamous, with Derby earning just a single Premier League victory from their 38 games, and accruing the lowest points total since the introduction of three points for a win in 1981. Derby chairman Mel Morris has huge admiration for Stoke City owner Peter Coates (left) If Derby get back to the Premier League, Morris is promising things will be different. Back then, Morris chose a very low profile with the media, and with the running of the club. From now on, he will be very hands on. 'Clearly defined roles' Whilst that doesn’t mean he will be at the club every day (he has total faith in president and chief executive Sam Rush), the new direction for Derby will be very much based around Morris’s vision. Chatting to him off-camera last week, as the club introduced Paul Clement as their new head coach, Morris told me that vision is based on a united club, where everyone has clearly defined roles and goals.

He said he has huge admiration for what Peter Coates has done, just 35 miles away. Morris told me that Stoke City is very much the model of how Derby County want to progress. Stoke is a perennial Premier League club, with aspirations towards the top six. Derby is currently the Championship wannabe. But the similarities between Coates and Morris are striking. Both men have long associations and a deep love for their local football club; both have been involved as owner and director in the past, when times were tough; both are brilliant entrepreneurs who have accrued huge wealth as part of the internet revolution; and both are motivated with a desire to pump big chunks of that cash into making their club the best it can be. For Coates, Bet365 was the game-changer in terms of personal fortune. For Morris, it is King.com – makers of Candy Crush. Morris is Derbyshire born and bred. He went to school in Etwall in the south of the county and soon after leaving, showed an entrepreneurial spark. He sold hardwood floors and property in Spain; he built the respected Mickleover Court Hotel and set up one of the very first internet-dating sites in 2005.

But it was when Morris sold his stake in King.com that his personal fortune rocketed. He’s now worth in excess of £500m. 'Improvements' And he’s already been spending some of that on Derby’s infrastructure. It’s Morris who has funded the renovations at Derby’s Moor Farm Training Ground. These have seen a brand new hydrotherapy suite, new floodlights, a new 3G pitch, and another new training pitch that matches perfectly the dimensions and conditions at the iPro Stadium – improvements that helped earn Derby’s Academy Category One status from the Premier League. Paul Clement: Replaced Steve McLaren at Derby County So, behind the scenes, all looks very rosy for Derby as a club. But Morris told me that their model can only be truly effective once they get into the Premier League. Last week’s report from Deloitte into the financial state of English football pointed out that the 24 Championship teams lost a total of £247m in 2013/14 – an average of over £10m per club.

Even though Morris has deep enough pockets to sustain such losses, he knows he can’t just spend his way into the Premier League, without risking falling foul of Uefa’s Financial Fair Play rules. That’s where new Head Coach Paul Clement must earn his corn. It will be difficult to replace Pulis, says Stoke chairman Coates - Goal.com It will be difficult to replace Pulis, says Stoke chairman Coates Stoke to begin 'difficult task' of replacing Pulis Getty Images 0 22 May 2013 18:25:00 The 55-year-old manager leaves the Britannia Stadium after overseeing five consecutive seasons in the Premier League, and the Potters owner has thanked him for his hard work Stoke chairman Peter Coates believes the Potters face a difficult task in finding a successor to Tony Pulis , who left the club by mutual agreement on Tuesday. Pulis guided Stoke into the Premier League in 2008, where they have stayed ever since, but unappealing football and the lowest points total in the club's short Premier League history saw the 55-year-old axed.

But Coates has thanked Pulis for his work during a seven-year spell at the club, and envisages a difficult task in finding a replacement. STOKE LATEST "The last seven years have been some of the best in our long history and I would like to thank Tony for his huge contribution in this," read a statement from Coates on the club's official website. "I personally regard him as a great friend and will hugely miss working with him. "We will now begin the difficult task of searching for a successor to Tony. This will be done in private and the club will make no further statement in respect of this search until an appointment is made." Former Portsmouth and Plymouth manager Pulis is saddened to leave the Britannia Stadium outfit, but accepts the club's decision to replace him. "Although I am disappointed, I do understand what he means when [Coates] says the board feels a need to take the club in a different direction," read a statement from Pulis via the League Managers Association. "In leaving I am very proud of what we have all achieved.

"I have enjoyed some wonderful times at Stoke City and nobody was prouder than me when, after 23 years of exile from top-flight football, we gained Barclays Premier League status." Related Stoke City is now a name known all over the world, says chairman Peter Coates Stoke City is now a name known all over the world, says chairman Peter Coates Sitting pretty: Peter Coates has presided over a remarkable period in Stoke City's history Credit: PAUL COOPER John Percy 4 January 2016 • 6:45pm It was only seven years ago when, newly promoted to the Premier League, Stoke City’s players were still arriving for training and having to change in sheds that served as dressing rooms, next to the portable toilets and ravaged training pitches full of dog muck. It was time, chairman Peter Coates reflected as he reclined in an office at the new training facilities last week, when potential new signings from any walk of life would turn their noses up at joining the club. Now Stoke are spending £12 million on World Cup stars and luring players from Barcelona, playing some of the most entertaining football in the country and will face Liverpool in the Capital One Cup semi-final on Tuesday in confident mood.

Stoke’s profile is growing rapidly and Coates was given further proof of their rise last summer. “I was on holiday in Singapore and we stayed at Raffles [the hotel],” he says. “They give you a butler and he was a charming young man. I got into the hotel room and couldn’t work the television so I asked the butler to help. He said: ‘Why, do you want to watch the football?’ I was a bit taken aback, I questioned what made him say that and he replied: ‘Because you’re the chairman of Stoke City.’ Amazing. The Premier League is going into 900 million homes and they’re watching Stoke now. Coates has put Stoke on the map around the world “It’s done more for the city than anything else. I saw a wonderful piece in the Swansea programme a few years back saying that having a club in the Premier League was like having a cathedral in the Middle Ages.

“Wherever you travel, and I’ve been to a lot of places, people are now telling me about my football club and the players.” Those players, particularly the attacking trident of record signing Xherdan Shaqiri, Bojan and Marko Arnautovic, are sprinkling stardust most weeks and have been pivotal in the evolution under Mark Hughes. Two successive ninth‑place finishes were clear signs of progress but targets have now been adjusted. Shaqiri has even admitted the Champions League is in Stoke’s sights and Jose Mourinho (twice), Louis van Gaal and Manuel Pellegrini have been beaten this season without a long ball in sight. Beating Liverpool over two legs to reach Wembley would be another huge statement to enhance those ‘Stokelona’ comparisons, with the club having signed three players from Barca. Marko Arnautovic has been one of a number of impressive performers for Stoke Coates smiles and mocks indignation when you mention the nickname. “What are people surprised about? It’s a natural fit,” he says. “I always pull people’s legs and say what a great association it is, Stoke and Barcelona. But the Barcelona connection has worked well for us.

We’ve now got our best squad by a long way. We’ve had players like Bojan telling other players how good a club Stoke is and asking them to join us. We’ve never had this quality. “Some supporters disagree with me because they have their fondest memories of the Tony Waddington team. That was a very good team, with some great local players, but I don’t think it was as good as this.” That vintage Waddington team of the Seventies delivered arguably the finest moment in Stoke’s history. Photographs of that success adorn the walls in the corridors of the Britannia Stadium. Stoke were given little chance against Chelsea in the 1972 League Cup final at Wembley, despite the presence of Gordon Banks, George Eastham and Jimmy Greenhoff in their team. But Eastham’s winner, and a heroic display in the later stages from Banks, secured a 2-1 victory and it remains their only major trophy. The memories remain vivid for Coates. “I was there and it was a special day we’ll never forget. This is a historical club and we’ve punched above our weight for a long time now.

I still talk to older supporters about that team and we still have a lot of the players come to games. But 1972 still wasn’t the best day for me as a Stoke supporter. That was when we played Leicester and got promoted [as Championship runners-up in 2008 under Tony Pulis]. It was the longest time we’d been out of the top division and I used to despair that we’d never get there. The Premier League was getting bigger and bigger with a better profile and we feared we would be left behind.” Stoke have now made huge strides under the Coates family, including his son John and daughter Denise, who also own online betting firm Bet365. They are something of a rarity in the Premier League, locally born and passionate about everything connected to the club, from the record signings to the burgeoning academy. Coates still attends every Stoke game Coates snr, who turns 78 next week, still goes to every game and retains an infectious enthusiasm. He is also fiercely protective of his club and gets frustrated when the media focus on the weaknesses of their opponents, rather than Stoke’s strengths, after wins against the bigger clubs. The Premier League needs more owners like Coates.

Retirement is not on the agenda. “There comes a time when you do go but there’s nothing planned,” he says. “Whenever I stop being chairman, and there’s no plan at the moment, John would be the obvious successor. He’s got huge knowledge about the game, he’s followed Stoke all his life and he has been massively important in the development of the football club. But while you’re still enjoying something, why stop? “Working and having interests are good for you. They give you something to get up for. I watch a lot of sport and I played a lot of it, especially tennis, but I had to give it up because I had trouble with my knee. I still do biking and I’ve got a gym at home and I do a bit of work on the crosstrainer. I watch TV at the same time – things my wife doesn’t like to watch. I’m in and out in 45 minutes, but if you stop it’s difficult to restart.” The football being played under Hughes is also invigorating. Recent victories over Manchester City , United and Everton underlined their progress and Peter Crouch even jokingly tweeted “no wonder I can’t get a run-out”.

Mark Hughes has changed perceptions about Stoke Coates feels a sense of pride over the achievements of Hughes, whose appointment in 2013 divided opinion following a tough spell at Queens Park Rangers. But the Welshman’s quiet revolution has repaired that reputation and he is even being discussed as a potential candidate for the United job when Van Gaal leaves. “Mark has been great for us, we’re really pleased with him and for him. He’d had a setback and this was his opportunity to show everyone what a good manager he is. We were confident he was very good at his job,” Coates says. “John and I made that decision, discussed it with Tony Scholes [Stoke chief executive] and we very quickly thought he was the man. Fortunately it was ideal for Mark because he’d been out of a job and I think he was pleased someone wanted him back in the game. “His record told us he was good and that’s been proven to be the case. We had the good times with Tony Pulis, who was excellent for us, and we’ve continued that with Mark. The trick is always to keep it going. We’re pleased but we’re never complacent.

I never get carried away because I know what’s realistic and what isn’t. I’m very conscious anyone can have a poor season – the big surprise this year being Leicester and Chelsea. Who could have forecast that?” Follow Telegraph Football Sport latest 19 Jan 2017, 6:54am 19 Jan 2017, 5:51am Live

Question: Peter Coates is the owner and Chairman of which football club in the Premier League?
Answer: STOKE CITY