Hundreds of names playing their part in ownership of the Potters

WHO really owns Stoke City? It was transferred from bet365 with modest fanfare to John Coates in the summer of 2024 and he hasn't asked for a whip round during subsequent transfer windows or building the new training complex.

- Peter Smith

The football club is controlled by Stoke City Holdings Ltd, which itself is owned by Coates. He has virtually all the shares and, with brother-in-law Richard Smith as vice-chairman and dad Peter Coates as director, it's as close to family run as any in the Football League.

But buried deep in a filing cabinet at Companies House is a story from another era showing that, alongside the Coates's holdings still sit hundreds of names, some who own just one or two shares. Some are living, some are deceased, some are institutions - including us at The Sentinel.

THE MODERN STRUCTURE

Today, the controlling entity is Stoke City Holdings Ltd, which holds nearly every class of ordinary share - the kind that carries voting rights and genuine ownership. These are listed in several forms, including 'I', 'W' and 'S' shares which were created during various reorganisations. Between them, Stoke City Holdings and Peter Coates hold more than 99.9 per cent of all voting shares. The family's stake is absolute. The decisions, the funding, the risk, the praise and the stick are all theirs.

THE PREFERENCE SHARES

So what about these other names? Many of them hold 'preference shares', which is a throwback to when football clubs would raise small amounts of money from supporters or local businesses. Preference shares usually don't come with voting rights.