What actually occurred in the January transfer window according to Port Vale’s owner?
Before the January transfer window, the club did assess its finances, according to Port Vale owner Carol Shanahan, and opted not to spend as much as in prior years.
With the departures of Connor Hall, Harry Charsley, and Brad Walker, as well as the loan signings of Aaron Donnelly and Matty Taylor from Nottingham Forest and Oxford, respectively, Vale had a relatively quiet window.
Carol and her husband Kevin purchased the team and Vale Park from Norman Smurthwaite in May 2019 for more than £4.5 million. Since then, they have invested money in the Valiants. Because they want Vale to advance steadily, they determined that investing money at the same rate for another transfer window was not a good idea.
They would rather add more funds to the club for long-term investments. That can involve making changes to the ground. For instance, the club spent about £1 million last summer upgrading Vale Park.
According to Carol Shanahan, the decision to open the transfer window wasn’t made randomly. She said to Ash Houghton of the club: “In November and December we started looking. We were calculating Shanahans’ financial investment in Port Vale. We set a goal for how much we would invest over five years, but we have already spent that amount and more. While you do have a target of what you want and what is acceptable from your own money, we were thinking, “Hang on,” if you continue at this rate, we are spending far more than we ever anticipated to put in.
“That actually caused us to stop. At the time, everyone speculated, “Well, are the Shanahans pulling out, have they run out of money, don’t they care?” I know it appeared a little difficult. None of that was true at all. Come on, let’s stop here and be reasonable, was the message. We must consider what it is that we hope to accomplish. We want to build a club that is financially sound enough to support its own operations and has a substantial first-team budget.
“Hence, when the Shanahans provide money, we use it for capital projects and to improve the club in ways that we couldn’t do with club funds alone. Thus, it is crucial that the club maintains its means while constantly expanding them. That is essentially what we have been doing. “Why don’t you go and buy lots of targets and shoot for the Championship?” was the message in the window. I don’t think that would have been the appropriate moment to do that.
“Our window was successful, in fact. A few players who weren’t included on the squad sheet were moved (Harry Charsley and Brad Walker). To be nearer his house, Connor moved away. But Matty Taylor, who we did bring in, is scoring and performing quite well. Again, Aaron Donnelly has been excellent since he joined us on loan. So, it cannot be said that the club returned during that time; rather, it was more of a stabilising period for us than a period during which we would just “throw everything at it.” You’ve seen that in football, and it’s not a good way to be.”
Vale, who was just outside the top ten before the January window, has dropped to 17th place after winning just two of their past 15 games. Nonetheless, they are currently 10 points ahead of the drop zone and are therefore on track to clinch League One safety in their first year following promotion.
The club’s owner spoke at the beginning of the season about making improvements to make it “Championship ready,” but she always made it plain that this was a long-term goal. “I believe there are two things,” she continued. You have a plan on the pitch and a plan off the pitch. No football team can predict when a promotion will occur. There are aspects of it that you cannot control, and planning for something you cannot control makes it impossible.
“You can take all the necessary steps to increase the likelihood, but you cannot declare our efforts a failure if we are not competing in the Championship in a certain number of years. Hence, when I stated that we must work to become a Championship-ready team, I did not mean to imply that we must get promoted this season or the following season.
“This isn’t the end of the adventure. We must now climb a much higher mountain than it was from League Two to League One in order to reach the Championship. How can we accomplish it and guarantee that we are prepared in every way for the Championship?”
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