Today marks six months since Carol and Kevin Shanahan completed their purchase of Port Vale, and Carol has discussed the transition from watching as a fan to now watching as the owner.
Before buying the club, Carol would be seen sat in the Vale away end on match days, and talking on the club's official podcast, 'Talk of the Vale', she admits that she misses the feeling of being a part of those away crowds.
Despite not being in and amongst the travelling Valiants on a Saturday afternoon, Carol still travels to away games and the Vale chairlady has emphasised the importance of making a good impression of Port Vale when she represents the clubs on away fixtures.
Since taking over the Vale in May, Carol says that she has enjoyed being part of an EFL family and explains the relationships with other club owners across the league.
“I love being in the away end, I was really jealous because Manny [Emmanuel Oyeleke] and Tom Conlon were sat in the away end at Crewe, and they loved it. I was talking to Tom yesterday and he was telling me about the atmosphere, I do miss it.
“I’m very conscious that when we are at an away game, it is kind of part of the job but that doesn’t mean to say that it is a duty or anything, but we are representing Port vale and I think getting a really positive impression of Port Vale out to all of the other league clubs is really important.
“This the thing I’ve really enjoyed over the six months, becoming part of this EFL family, the first game that we had with Robbie at Colchester, he was very much that we are a football family, and any help we can give you we absolutely will, except from that 90 minutes, we want the three points."
Talking on the official club podcast, Carol Shanahan discusses the working relationship she has with the Vale manager John Askey.
Askey had been in charge for three months at the time of the takeover and Carol has explained how the relationship between the two has grown since May.
The Vale Chairlady emphasised how they meet regularly and often come to decisions together regarding the squad.
“We meet regularly and so we don’t usually get to a point where he will ask for something that I am likely to say not to because we have already discussed it.
“On the whole we will come to a decision rather than him ask. A week ago we went through the whole squad, just the pair of us, looking at where everybody was, what we wanted to do moving forward and what we would need.
“I think that the relationship has grown, because to begin with he wasn’t sure, he had just had his experience at Macclesfield and Shrewsbury, so he wasn’t sure what to expect and nor was anybody else."
To listen to 'Talk of the Vale' on Spotify click here: LISTEN ON SPOTIFY
To listen to 'Talk of the Vale' on iTunes click here: LISTEN ON ITUNES