New owners: we paid over the odds but we won’t gamble Port Vale’s future

Port Vale owners Carol and Kevin Shanahan sais it took a “Silly amount” of money to persuade Norman Smurthwaite to sell the club and that they won’t “over-promise” on future improvements.

The Shanahans took over on Tuesday and say it will be a process of gradual improvement.

The big thing is not to over-promise. We are not going to…

They told the Sentinel: “We have spent a lot of time looking at successful clubs and clubs that have failed.

“The big thing is not to over-promise. We are not going to.

“We are going to get better every single year. Would it be great if we got promoted next season – of course it would, it would be amazing.

“But we are not going to gamble Port Vale’s future and our future on going out and spending ridiculous amounts of money on a system that might not work anyway.

“So, you build it. We have a lot of repairing, healing and growing to do in this club for the next year or so, at the same time as building what happens on the pitch.”

“It has been ridiculous because we paid so much over the odds but there is only one club. You couldn’t go and buy ‘ABC United,’ because this was the one that needed buying.

“It took a silly amount of money, it was in no way related to what you would buy a football club for.”