As Pompey collapse and Chester kicked out, Stoke announce: We're debt free

Stoke City have announced that they are externally debt-free on the day that Portsmouth went into administration.Free from debt: Tony Pulis has praised the Stoke City ownersFigures announced for the year 2008-09, the club's first season in the Premier League, show the Potters made a net profit of £503,000 at the end of the last trading year, after transfers, and had an increased turnover of £54m - up from £11m in their last season in the Championship.Boss Tony Pulis, a former Portsmouth boss, said: 'This is a great testament to the Coates family, who have put so much into the club.'The chairman, Peter Coates, has been a fan since his boyhood and he knows this club inside out. He and his family have put so much into the club.'This is a family club, run for the fans, and by local people. There should been an inquiry into how Portsmouth has been run.'The Coates family have already invested £17m, interest free, and plan to inject another £24m. Pulis said: 'It must be unique for a club like us to be free of external debt, and that underlines how indebted we are to the Coates family.'The most important thing about this club is that it stays in existence, we have had success on the pitch to match the investment.' STOKE v Arsenal: Abdoulaye Faye and Andy Wilkinson both return from suspensionAdebayor adds to Man City woes as striker lands four-match suspensionPortsmouth docked nine points as administration plunges cash-strapped Premier League towards relegationChester City dumped out of Conference but League Two Bournemouth could be safeStorrie ends Portsmouth chapter: Chief executive to resign from crisis clubSTOKE CITY FC

Source: Daily_Mail