Stoke City owners the Coates Family: Net Worth, Business Interests, Potters plans and more | OneFootball

The Coates family certainly have a long and storied history with Stoke City Football Club.

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It was Peter Coates who first held chairmanship of the club between 1986 and 1998, before departing his role amid fan protests.

He would then sell his majority share in the club to an Icelandic consortium led by Gunnar Gislason in 1999.

However, Coates would buy the club back from the Icelandic consortium in 2006, reportedly paying £1.7million for the purchase of the Potters, through a subsidiary of Bet365 group.

With the Bet365 group that is owned and run by the Coates family once again in charge of the club, Coates would resume his role as chairman of the club.

That is a role he now holds jointly with his son John, who was brought in to share the position in 2020.

During that second spell under the ownership of the Coates family, things have been eventful for Stoke, who won promotion to the Premier League for the first time in 2008, reached their first-ever FA Cup final in 2011 - allowing them to enjoy a Europa League run the following year - before being relegated back to the Championship in 2018.

The Potters have remained in the second tier ever since, and will now be once again targeting a return to the top flight, in this their sixth consecutive season in the Championship.

So as they look to do that, we've taken a few moments here, to take a look at some of the big questions that might be asked about Stoke City's owners, the Coates family.

What is the worth of the Coates family?

There can be no denying that the Coates family do have plenty of funds available to invest in Stoke should they wish to do so.

In 2022, a report from The Times claimed that the Coates family is worth a huge £8.637billion, which is said to have been a £ 189 million increase on their value from the year before.

As a result of that worth, the Coates family were thought to be the 17th richest family in the United Kingdom at the time the article was published.

As has already been mentioned, the Coates family are the owners of bookmakers Bet365, which allowed Coates to fund his second takeover of Stoke in 2006.

Having been formed by Coates, who had previously established the Staffordshire radio station Signal 1, Bet365 is now led by his daughter, Denise Coates.

She shares the role of Chief Executive with her brother John Coates, who as has previously been mentioned, also holds the position of joint chairman at Stoke City with his father Peter.

What are the Coates family's plans for Stoke?

It certainly seems as though the Coates family are ready and willing to continue to provide the funds required to keep Stoke City running for the foreseeable future.

Last year, it was reported that the family had put around £338million into the club since their second takeover in 2006.

Then, revelations earlier this year showed that Stoke had been given a financial boost, with the Coates family turning £40million worth of the club's debt into equity, and waiving a further £120million worth of historic debt, to further highlight their commitment to the Potters.

Political interests

It also seems as though Peter Coates at least, does have some considerable interest and allegiances in politics.

The Stoke City joint chairman is a donor to the Labour Party, although he did not make any contributions to them, during Jeremy Corbyn's time as leader.