Port Vale legend: club owner must be stable and transparent
Port Vale legend Robbie Earle says the owner of Port Vale must provide “stability and transparency.”
Midfielder Earle was voted the club’s best-ever player in a 2007 PFA vote. He won promotion three times with the Valiants and made 357 appearances before a £775,000 move to top-flight Wimbledon. He now produces a regular column for the local Sentinel newspaper.
Frankly, I just want someone who will run the club with stability and transparency. I’m not waiting for a rich Russian to put in millions of oil money, I just want an owner who will have a plan that is sustainable…
Port Vale have been plunged into crisis after controversial owner Norman Smurthwaite reacted to supporter protests by saying the club would be put into administration if a new owner was not found by the 5th May.
The protests had been co-ordinated by the official Port Vale Supporters Club after fans passed a unanimous vote of no confidence in the owner following another season of under-achievement on the pitch.
The news has plunged the club into crisis with many supporters hoping that local business Synectics Solutions, owned by Vale fans Carol and Kevin Shanahan, will be successful with another bid for ownership of the Valiants.
Talking about what he’d like in a new Port Vale owner Earle told the Sentinel: “Frankly, I just want someone who will run the club with stability and transparency. I’m not waiting for a rich Russian to put in millions of oil money, I just want an owner who will have a plan that is sustainable.
“If that means Vale could become a well run League One club that is doing okay and is a huge asset to the community then that sounds good to me.”
Commenting on the bid from local business Synectics Solutions he added: “We know Carol and Kevin Shanahan, the owners of Synectics Solutions, have put in an offer and I do like what I have heard about them so far.
“Not only is their company based next to the Vale, they are big employers in Burslem and, as Carol Shanahan is the chair of Vale’s community scheme and a regular at games, they would know what they are getting into.”