We’ll invest to get Vale to a ‘better place’
Chairman Paul Wildes has said that the club’s owners will continue to invest in order to achieve their goal of taking the club back into the Championship.
Paul Wildes has spoken to BBC Sport about the improvements that have been made to the club since the owners took over. Wildes tells interviewer Laura McMullan that he has a long-term ten-year plan to put the club “in a better place” than it is today.
To get back into the Championship he acknowledges it may take “luck” but he notes that crucially the club need to drive “revenues off the playing-field” in order to invest in the playing squad.
Wildes added that “on the field it has been business as usual” but off the field a number of initiatives are taking shape.
“Port Vale had more weaknesses than strengths” when Wildes took over but “we try and take those weaknesses and make them into strengths. We haven’t had a very big paid of shoes to fill in my opinion but that means that there’s just a lot more work to do but the work is not complex.”
The chairman commented that “We’ve invested a lot of time and effort in making the club better” and adding “things that a normal commercial business should have – the fans are our customers and we have to improve the service we offer them.”
You can watch the full interview here:
http://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/0/football/22122400?
Wildes’ key objectives
In the interview the chairman says he is aiming to:
- Make the customer experience easier
- Enhance the matchday experience
- Improve communication to fans
- Attract younger fans
- Improve off-field revenue
- Invest in the playing staff