One key decision from Mark Stott was vital to make his Stockport County takeover a success: View | OneFootball

It was a smart appointment from the County owner

Now sitting in League One after taking Stockport County from the National League, it’s safe to say that Mark Stott’s takeover has been successful.

He arrived in January 2020 with the club still in a fairly precarious financial situation and changed their fortunes almost overnight.

With a property empire under the VITA banner that spans across most major cities in the UK and even abroad, County have had sufficient investment.

But any club can spend big, it’s one of Mark Stott’s first investments, director of football Simon Wilson, who has ensured the funds were spent correctly.

Simon Wilson was Stott’s most important signing

Plenty of clubs have proven in the past that you can throw money at a playing squad at any level and still get relatively little in return.

But bringing in Wilson, who Stott credits for coming up with County’s seven-year plan to move from the National League to the Championship, has meant that more often than not, money has been spent in the right places as far as the football side of the business is concerned.

It will also be a shock to some County fans just how crucial he has been to the club’s progress, having drawn harsh criticism in some quarters in his first few months at the club — potentially due to the fact that having a director of football was new on the Hatters, following the hands-on recruitment of former manager Jim Gannon.

However, having landed earlier deals for the likes of Paddy Madden and Antoni Sarcevic, to Kyle Wootton and Tanto Olaofe and later in the summer of 2024 a younger contingent of Lewis Bate, Jayden Fevrier and Jack Diamond; Wilson’s ability to find strong value in the market is second to none, and it’s difficult to argue otherwise.

There are few people in football who can command a transfer budget and seal deals the way Wilson does, making him one of the smartest acquisitions in the Stott era.

The man himself says he wouldn’t have bought County in the first place were he not able to bring Wilson in.

There are some fears Wilson may be too good at his job

His competence in the role does throw up an important question — much like when a striker is scoring goal after goal — can County keep hold of Wilson?

There is no getting away from the fact that he has a spotless track record. Interviews prove he is a deep thinker about football itself and the working structure of a club and County have two leagues worth of clubs above them who could make use of a figure like Wilson.

It’s certainly a question that hasn’t escaped Stott.

“He could be a director of football at a Premier League club tomorrow,”Stott said of his right-hand man. “I’ll be fighting to keep him doing something with me post that [seven-year plan].”

Stott is the owner every club dreams about

Having someone like Stott owning the club, who doesn’t like to take too much of the limelight and is keen to lavish praise on staff for their work, is the sort of stewardship every fan wishes for.

That he’s also a local, self-made man and came in to take the club forward when there were likely plenty of other clubs in better shape to plug in and go only adds to the allure.

His purchase of County is sure to go down as one of the most pivotal points in the club’s history, and we’re still yet to find the full extent of where he could take the Hatters.

But one thing is for sure; one of the most crucial elements of this pivotal era for County was Stott bringing Wilson to Edgeley Park.