Stockport County could look at Birmingham City, Burnley models in next few years | OneFootball

There are a number of financial blueprints the Hatters could follow in the coming years

The recent rise of Stockport County means there may need to be a conversation about additional investment in the coming seasons.

County have been heavily reliant on the generosity of current owner Mark Stott and his VITA empire, but the higher the club rises, the bigger the budgets they come up against.

In line with this positive period for County has been no end of wealthy Americans looking to put their money into football league clubs, the latest being A$AP Rocky’s reported interest in a Tranmere Rovers takeover.

Another takeover would likely be met with suspicion in Stockport, but Birmingham City and Burnley may hold a blueprint for when the time to get more money into the club comes.

County are adjusting to not being one of the big spenders anymore

The Hatters suffered years of financial turmoil and mismanagement from previous owners, a drawn-out period in the club’s history that left them battered and bruised in the sixth tier of English football.

Former manager Jim Gannon managed to drag the team into the fifth tier on a shoestring budget, armed with little more than his own knowledge of the players at that level.

It was at this stage that Stott, locally-born owner of the VITA property empire, stepped in, purchased the club, removed all the existing debt, and set about rebuilding the club.

Wrexham aside, investment at this scale in the National League was rare and tough for others to combat — Stott readily admits that the Hatters bought themselves out of the fifth tier.

But now in League One, those days of being the rich kids in town are over.

While the Hatters still have money to spend, Stott claimed in the same interview that they now have a top-ten budget in the third tier, as opposed to being within the top two or three in previous years.

A full A$AP Rocky-style takeover wouldn’t work for the Hatters

Stott arrived at Stockport in 2020 with a plan, written by director of football Simon Wilson, to reach the Championship in seven years.

Having reached League One by 2024, they now have three years to take that final step, something they are still steadfastly set on achieving.

The club will do well to get promoted without having one of the top budgets in the league, but if they do so, then they will only find much larger budgets in the Championship, where even survival will be a battle.

A financial injection, to boost the club’s budget for that mammoth task, may need to be sought, as that may be the point where Stott’s deep and very generous pockets are not enough on their own.

However, fans at County, having spent years being rightly suspicious of owners and potential owners over the past couple of decades, have grown to trust Stott, a local, self-made man, with their club.

A full takeover, like that being proposed at Tranmere with A$AP Rocky fronting a consortium, would likely create unrest at Edgeley Park.

There is no doubt that Hatters fans want Stott at the helm.

The club could follow the example of Birmingham and Burnley

However, Burnley and Birmingham both provide evidence of an attractive third way.

JJ Watt with the Clarets and, to a lesser extent, Tom Brady at Birmingham — both former NFL stars — both invested in Football League clubs without becoming full owners, although Brady is thought to have only invested a negligible amount for his stake.

That way, more so in JJ Watt’s case, the owners still retain control of the club but receive a boost to the club’s coffers.

They also now both have a huge gateway to increased advertising revenue, are potentially more attractive as a spectacle to broadcasters, and have easier access to the huge American market, still growing but largely untapped by English football.

There is seemingly no end of such stars looking to get involved in the English pyramid, many inspired by Ryan Reynolds and Rob McIlhenney.

Having had almost identical rises, County are often the club mentioned in the next breath; it should be an easy enough sell to a big figure from across the Atlantic.

This way, Stott remains the figurehead, a big-name star likely has a cheap entry into a popular sport with a growing club, and the club gets greater access to revenue drivers.