Following the club’s relegation to League Two, the Shanahans are honest about the last season with Carol Shanahan telling Watt that: “It’s been a very tricky two years. We have made some big mistakes. The club as a whole has made mistakes and what we are looking to do are to learn from them. Being really open about it and honest.” To rectify them, the owners have taken action with Carol adding: “We’ve put some things in place – Darren Moore as manager, Matt Hancock as CEO and letting them do their jobs. So, we’ve taken a little bit of a backstep. Supporting them – we’re not taking a back step from the club – it’s the operational day to day, letting them get on with it.” Kevin Shanahan commented: “You never do things right first time. Well, I don’t, not in my experience. I think we’re making some good progress now. Obviously we’ve got considerable scars but I feel optimistic about the future.” Carol reflected: “I wish I’d known then what I know now. We’ve seen a lot of the challenges of football. They all have them it’s not a Port Vale thing. How do we make sure that we bring what we’ve always promised which is success.” However, the owners are confident that they can turn things around in League Two with Carol saying: “We know where we’re going and we’ve got out of it before. We know what promotion feels like, we like it, we want to feel it again. We know what relegation feels like, we hate it, we never want to feel it again.” The owners have learnt from other clubs with Carol adding: “You’ve seen clubs getting promoted by not just spending money but being very clever and building the club over time. I think that’s what we’ve got to do is really build the club and build it solidly. What’s proven in the last two years is that the first time we hadn’t built it solidly enough – next time we will.” Personally, Carol was bruised by last season commenting: “I’ve taken quite a pounding on social media which really hurts. That’s the same for players, for managers, for owners. it’s easy to forget they are people too.” However, the pair hope to deliver excitement and success for the supporters with Carol closing saying: “I feel for the fans. What I want is to feel excited. It’s making matchdays days we look forward to and enjoy and to do that we need to win matches, and to win matches you need to have the right manager and I believe we have. Keep the faith. We’re not going anywhere.” Watch the complete interview with the Port Vale owners here