Stoke City statement

Thing is people are moaning about coates and it been unfair but its just same as what patrick was doing but on a much larger scale. Borrowing his money writing debts off etc other teams in league one could have been saying at the time this isnt fair there owner has dipped into his own money and bought winnall, conor, scowen and mawson hes funding there accademy etc

 

Show me where I have said that I advocated Mr Cryne putting his own money into the club every season.

 

Show me where I've said you have? I was talking in general not you.

 

They've sold the stadium to themselves for £70,000,000 and played the system to the tune of a further £160,000,000, so as to try and stave off what was likely going to be a 12 point penalty next season, for breach of FFP.

Seems above board.

 

In the scale of funds required to keep a Championship club afloat the Coates will never run out of money. Their wealth is simply on a different scale. They might get tired of sinking their money in, but that's another matter.

 

Another way of looking at this is that the debt of £120M no longer exists. The £40M has been converted into equity. That means that whether that value of share in the club prospers or not, the Coates have assumed that risk. The club, as such is no longer burdened with that debt. Level playing field? No. Wish we were that lucky? Sure. Are they actually in breach of any rules? Don't think so. (Happy to be corrected if they are.)

 

It is a free country. Anyone can spend their money how they please. How you spend your money is not the issue for FFP. FFP is there because it is considered that on the field competition would be more fairly based if some of the clubs in the league were not able to field teams of superior quality because their owners were willing to fund better players and huge annual losses. Over the years, it has become more and more apparent what a bad idea this is as more and more clubs opted to follow this route to the promised land. We are only half way through the period when annual accounts must be submitted to Companies House, but already there are some eye-wateringly huge declarations, and Stoke City are one of the ones who are yet to declare. Not only is the unevenness of competition obvious at the top of the Championship, its effect means that the promotion and relegation issues will be resolved through Profit and Loss Accounts, rather than on the field, where I am sure we would all like to see them resolved.

The problem is that the FFP rules are decided upon by a majority of Championship clubs. Most of these clubs have rich owners who will benefit from a free for all. The likes of little old Barnsley will always be outvoted. Little old Barnsley cannot currently compete in the Championship with the rich and famous, and that will always be the case whilst the lure of Premier League football encourages vast overspending, as it does. I do not object to any individual spending his money as he will, but I do object to his spending making it less likely that my club can ever compete in the Championship, a league that it has called home for the majority of its existence.

 

What the fupp have they spent that much on? Jacob Brown?

 

So not against the rules then?

 

Maybe it’s not against the rules. But Jesus wept if you cannot see that it is morally wrong then you truly are the boomer you appear to be.

 

I understand your sentiments (largely agree with them) but where does 'morally wrong' or right get us these days? The Coates are permitted to do what they have done. We live in an unequal world.

 

I would rather talk about what I am for. I am for fair competition between sides with playing budgets that both can afford without going deeply into debt.

Barnsley has always faced an uphill fight. Our pay budgets have never been the size of others in our league, but in those days, that was acceptable because budgets were based upon the ability to pay, and Barnsley has always had lower revenue which it has had to supplement with profits from player sales. However, things have gone beyond that now. The competition now is on the basis of the wealth of a club's owner, and I do not believe that is right, or a decent spectator sport.

 

Agreed it gets us nowhere. But football has the ability to be at least a relatively fair playing field. I appreciate that we wouldn’t be ever ok the same scale as the Arsenals and Manchester Uniteds of this world, but Jesus ******* wept, we are talking about Stoke here.

 

But the problem with this whole thread is that Stoke are effectively not going into debt, purely due to the philanthropy (towards them) of their owners. To provide a level playing field the FFP rules would need to be predicated on total expenditure rather than limiting the amount of permissible 'losses' wouldn't they?

 

FFP does not stop an owner spending as much as they want. The Coates family have chosen to bank roll Stoke City, if the club loses more than £39m over three years they get hit by FFP sanctions.

The actions of the Coates family is their choice and they have not loaded the club with debt as a result of their spending spree.

Football has never been a level playing field. Unless we adopt the US system it will carry on with the haves and the have nots. The disparities have been magnified with the riches of the premier league and the influx of billionaires wishing to use their money for a personal ego trip.

This is how professional football has become a game of money more than anything else. Sadly we will be at the table of the have nots, especially given the parlous state of our current finances.

 

Hasn't it always been unequal? Money talks, as in life, sadly.

 

There are ways around the rules whatever you do. Those who want to cheat will find ways of doing so, and as I said in my first comment in this thread, the rules have to be agreed by the clubs playing each division. If you want to cheat, you are going to support a rule book that allows you to do that more easily.

 

But are you saying Stoke are cheating?

 

Great idea in principal but unless FIFA could introduce it worldwide all that would happen is the players would play in other leagues who would pay more.

 

Can't honestly believe some of the comments on this thread are from Barnsley fans. The mind boggles.