Stoke City chairman Peter Coates admits his family have sunk at least £40 million into the club.

Since promotion, City have sold players for around £4m, including last summer's £3m departure of Seyi Olofinjana to Hull, while they have bought Robert Huth for £6m, Dave Kitson for £5.5m and Tuncay for £5m.

Coates says the £46m margin between sales and signings has made Stoke one of the biggest spenders in the top flight.

He told The Sentinel: "In the last two seasons, Stoke have been the third and fourth highest net spenders in transfers respectively.

"The club's committed spend will be £50m. We have topped things up by £20m."

Coates also confirmed his family's spending on players was not a loan to the club.

He added: "I don't see our money coming back, and we haven't done it on that basis. It would be nice to get it back, but we are not expecting it."

"Our investment to date, if I include everything, is about £40m.

"More than half of that is on players. It is a lot of money, but we don't invest in Stoke City on the basis it is the greatest investment we ever made."