How Mark Stott made the millions funding Stockport County’s promotion push | OneFootball

Stockport County have received significant investment from a local businessman

Stockport County owner Mark Stott has invested millions into his hometown club.

While the man himself has confessed that he grew up a Manchester City fan, his commitment to the Hatters in the intervening years cannot be questioned.

Revered locally, he has restored the Hatters to where they belong in League One, and he's now setting his sights even higher.

The journey so far has been largely from his own pocket, which he has only been able to do through building up a significant personal wealth in the world of business.

How Stockport County owner Mark Stott made his millions

Stott was brought up in nearby Poynton, around a 20-minute drive away from County’s Edgeley Park base.

He began life selling advertising space in the Stockport Express Advertiser and transitioned into buying and selling cars.

But, as you may have guessed, neither of these avenues provided Stott the millions needed to turn the Hatters’ fortunes, although he did find some success with motors, once buying David Beckham’s Bentley to sell on.

Following a – self-confessed failed – stint as a bar owner, Stott used the money he’d built up to found a small software business, which is still in operation as the IT department of one of his headline companies.

Those companies – Select Property Group and Vita Group – which form the basis of his current fortune, all centre around the property industry.

Vita are also based in the vicinity of Stockport, in the leafy area of Alderley Edge, perhaps most famous as the hometown of many footballers from the likes of City and Manchester United.

That company is the Hatters’ front-of-shirt sponsor and has a strong presence in the UK, as one of the leading student accommodation suppliers.

But a significant portion of Stott’s wealth comes from abroad, through Select, which handles property investment through outposts in Dubai, Shanghai and Hong Kong.

Stott’s exact net worth is not public knowledge, but through outlets like BusinessLive, he has been branded Stockport’s “most successful entrepreneur”.

Mark Stott has spent significantly on Stockport County

Stott’s immense wealth is seen through his dealings with County alone.

Investment since his takeover in 2020 has been strong, through player trading but also in development work on Edgeley Park, the leasing of a training ground in Carrington and investment in the academy system.

In 2023/24, County’s accounts showed that the club lost £7m, underwritten by Stott entirely, who put in £11m of his own money in the form of new shares.

According to football finance expert Kieran Maguire, that figure took the club’s losses to £21m since the takeover, essentially all money that Stott has put into the club himself.

With County now battling it out at the top of League One, however, Stott is already looking at the next phase of the plan.

The future of Stockport County may need more financial support

Stott arrived at County with a seven-year plan, drafted by director of football and now CEO Simon Wilson, to get the club into the Championship by 2027.

Should this season go to plan, then the Hatters may get there a year early, and that would be a transition that would also see Stott’s ownership enter a new phase.

Speaking to the Hard Truth Football Podcast in October, Stott said: “Simon and I have just said, we’ve done five years, we’re writing a plan now for the next five.

“So, I think we’re in for another five, so we’ll do 10 years and see where we can get to.

“I think we can get to the Premier League in that time, which I know is a bold statement.

“I’ve got an amount [of investment] that I was willing to put in that’s still there in my head that I can go to.

“I can’t do it forever.

“I want to leave Stockport in a miles better place than I took it on.

“So, I’ll commit another five years, but if in that journey there’s somebody better who comes along and says, actually, ‘We love what you’re doing, we want to get involved’, I’d be like, absolutely.

“If we’re in the Championship and we’re pushing on, there’ll be somebody that’s got more money than me, who’s probably got a better vision, better connections, and Simon won’t want to do it forever, so at some point we should hand the baton over.”

New owners may be a daunting vision to County fans, who have had rough experiences in the past with unscrupulous individuals and have come to trust Stott implicitly.

However, Stott seems an honest man, both about what he can and what he can’t do, and he seems to care deeply about the club he has strong geographical and now emotional ties to, so he will undoubtedly carry out thorough due diligence to ensure any move like that is right for the club.