Stockport County Owner Mark Stott Eyes Championship Promotion in Ambitious Plans

AMBITIOUS Stockport County owner Mark Stott is confident the club will be promoted to the Championship within the next few seasons.

The Hatters stormed to the League Two title this season and have secured two memorable promotions in three seasons as their meteoric rise back up the football pyramid continues at pace, and Stott, who has sunk plenty of his own cash into resurrecting the Edgeley Park club from the doldrums, is ready to make “ruthless” decisions to guarantee even more success.

“We’re definitely ahead of the curve,” revealed Stott, who took over the club in 2020 with a seven-year vision to get it into the second tier.

“We’re probably a year ahead of schedule, we’re left with three years now to get to the Championship.

“My timing for buying the club was absolutely horrific, but the one benefit Covid gave us was that we got into Edgeley Park and upgraded, which you never really get because you only have six to ten weeks in the closed season to get everything done. Otherwise, there’s loads of disruption.

“All those things together, well we’re probably a year ahead of where I thought we’d be. It’s going well.

“When I bought the club I think there were just six full-time members of staff and some part-timers, and now there’s 175 full-time members of staff and 250 part-time staff,” he exclusively told SportsBoom.com.

Stott, a successful businessman, has kept faith with manager Dave Challinor throughout the Hatter’s meteoric rise, and the former County favourite has rewarded the owner with a squad which has been able to climb two divisions.

But Stott believes now is the time to make big changes as the club embark on the biggest challenge of their journey so far.

Top-scorer and skipper Paddy Madden, who has led the charge with goals galore during the past three seasons, has not had his contract renewed, with a string of first-team players have also been released.