Inside the bet365 Stadium: PSR paradox and why Stoke City sanctioned two key sales
Stoke City started their Championship campaign with a win over Derby County and a performance bookended by excellent play.
Stoke started strongly and, although Derby held them off and then took the lead against the run of play, they fought back to seal a 3-1 victory thanks to goals from Lewis Baker and debutants Divin Mubama and Sorba Thomas.
There were six new signings featuring, including the returning Ashley Phillips, while Maksym Talovierov and Steven Nzonzi are still waiting to make their entrance. The transfer window remains open for a few more weeks yet too.
Mark Robins’s team are back in action on Tuesday at home against Walsall in the Carabao Cup (7.45pm) before travelling to crisis club Sheffield Wednesday for the second match in the league programme.
All in all, it’s a busy time and here’s a chance to take a look behind the scenes at the bet365 Stadium.
John Coates frustrated by PSR anomaly
John Coates, Jon Walters and Mark Robins hosted a Q&A with supporters before the Derby game, tackling a range of subjects for an hour in the Waddington Suite.
Coates was put on the spot about the EFL’s financial fair play rules and how they affect Stoke or clubs like Stoke, including highlighting how they fly in the face of the board’s desire to keep football as affordable as possible for the people of Stoke-on-Trent.
Stoke have frozen season ticket prices since 2008, offered free coach travel to away games since 2013 and have kept their replica shirts at among the lowest rate in the division – even if some of that is taken into account in deals with companies like bet365.
The Potters still took in the fourth highest commercial revenue (£16.7m) of clubs in the Championship according to most recent accounts and are working on increasing that further – but that is still dwarfed by parachute payments to relegated clubs.
It all puts greater emphasis on what the chairman referred to as the lifecycle of recruitment and Stoke, having learned the hard way, are putting more and more focus on getting that right more often, including a new bespoke data unit that will be a very interesting story at some point down the line.
Coates said: “If we do something this window, we are modelling not just what it looks like this year but what it looks like next year and the year after that. You have assumptions on what your wage bill is going to be, all your costs, all your revenues etc and you work out not only if you can afford to do it at the moment but also what problems or not it will give you further down the line and how you could deal with that.
“Then it’s incumbent on us, of course, to say, ‘Ok, we don’t agree with these rules but they are what they are and we have to navigate them as well as we can.’
“So what do we need to do? It’s difficult because people say, grow revenues – and Simon King and the commercial department have been growing revenues. But there are two sides to that because I want to make supporting Stoke City affordable. Well, actually, that is not encouraged by the rules. The rules are kind of saying I should be putting prices up. That doesn’t sit well for me.
“Clearly, as we all know, one of the big levers we can pull is if we can get recruitment right – and it’s not just recruitment, it’s the life cycle. If we recruit well, and I believe we have made great strides in our recruitment. I genuinely believe that and we’re working on projects that will give us an even greater lift on that.
“But that’s just one thing, bringing the player in. Then it’s, can Mark and his team develop those players? We know the raw material, can he add value to those players and can those players either take us where we want to be or, when necessary under PSR rules, then help us when we need to trade players.
“The way you manage the system, a club like us, we’re not going to be able to match what parachute payments club have but we can close the gap by really smart recruitment and then developing players and then understanding that sometimes we have to sell a player to reinvest and then go again. That’s a big thing that the three of us and all the teams at the club are working towards.”
Jon Walters explains the sales of Sol Sidibe and Wouter Burger
Those eight summer signings, with more expected to follow, have been partly funded by the exits of midfielders Wouter Burger and Sol Sidibe.
Sporting director Walters was asked to explain why the club was prepared to sanction Burger going to Hoffenheim and Sidibe to PSV Eindhoven.
He said: “It follows on from John’s answer in terms of being able to reinvest funds back into the squad. I think you go back to last summer’s window and over the course of the season, there were 12 or 13 players who came in and I think we ended up spending less than £3m. That’s not easy and it means there are loan players and you are developing them and giving them back, which we don’t want to do because we want to develop our own but you have to be able to balance that as well.
“It was publicly known last January there was a bid for Wouter near the end of the window which didn’t suit as a team. We spoke to him and Wouter made his feelings known but we treated him how I think a player should be treated. It wasn’t cloak and dagger, we were very open and honest and we explained the situation.
“At the time we couldn’t find a replacement but there was the caveat that I know once a player has had his heart set on something it’s quite hard to change that. You have agents and other clubs involved and although it’s not meant to go on, it goes on and you have to deal with that come the summer.
“I would say on the other side of that, Wouter was one of our best players in the second half of the season and fair play for that because it can go the other way as a player. I think the way we treated him at that time really helped.
“Going into this window, part of my role is to get the best deal for the club if Wouter is to go. It’s not an easy thing as you deal with clubs or a club and the timing has got to be right so you can reinvest that money into the squad. Sometimes you reinvest that money in advance knowing it’s going to happen and sometimes it’s afterwards. You’re playing a balancing act the whole time.
“It’s got to improve the squad and also get players who are able to be developed and the right player and right blend for the dressing room. There are so many things going on.
“With Sol, it’s slightly different and Sol has come through our academy and I think I made it clear in our statement when he left that I completely disagree with the rules. He’s a player who has come through our academy and we’ve got a close bond with Sol and his family, I played with his dad and he’s got other siblings in the academy.
“You have to tread carefully but it was a huge opportunity for Sol to go to a club who are competing in the Champions League. There’s that to take into consideration, as well as the family’s thoughts and the agent’s thoughts and everything else along the way.
“It’s a difficult one but weighing everything up and knowing the situation we’re in and how you can help invest in the squad, it became something we should do.”
Kids for a quid vs Walsall
To complete the circle on this article, under-11s can get in for a pound against Walsall in the Carabao Cup first round at the bet365 Stadium on Tuesday (7.45pm).
Adult season ticket holders’ match tickets are available for £13, it’s £10 for over-65s and £4 for under-18s.
New season for the under-21s
Stoke kick-off the Premier League 2 season with a trip to Birmingham City on Friday (7pm). Dave Hibbert will be taking his squad to the Arden Garages Stadium, which is the home of Stratford Town.
The 21s will play their first home game of the season on Sunday, August 31 (12pm) at the bet365 Stadium against Liverpool.
Sarah Richardson era starts for Stoke City Women
Stoke start the new National League Northern Premier Division season with a home match against Sporting Khalsa on Sunday (2pm). This will be Stoke’s first full season with Wellbeing Park, Yarnfield, as their official home ground.
There are games to follow in August away to Halifax and back at base against Hull.
New boss Sarah Richardson has brought in new players including midfielders Holly Deering and Emelia Wilson, keepers Harriet Grimshaw and Lucy Farrell, and full-back Camille Jenkins.
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