Coates 'relieved' as Stoke go up

Stoke City chairman Peter Coates has spoken of his relief at guiding the Potters back to the top flight of English football.

Coates told BBC Radio Stoke: "It's a great responsibility to be on the board of a football club.

"When you're aiming for promotion you feel you should take your share of the blame when you don't achieve it. It's a great relief for me."

Coates returned for his second spell as Potters chairman in the summer of 2006.

His first act back in the boardroom was to reinstate Tony Pulis as manager and Coates was quick to praise the Welshman for all his team has achieved.

"I've always believed he is a very good manager. He's a good judge of a player, his teams are disciplined and well organised and he gets the best out of his players.

"He has all the attributes that I believe are essential for successful management."

Coates will now turn his attention to preparing the club for their first top-flight campaign for 23 years.

"We'll be very specific in wanting to stay up. We want to compete and that's what we'll set out to do.

"Clearly we will need to bring in new players. It's a big challenge but a great challenge."

RELATED INTERNET LINKS:
Stoke fans' views on 606
BBC Stoke & Staffordshire audio
Stoke weather
BBC Sport Championship
Stoke City
The BBC is not responsible for the content of external internet sites