LEON: OWNERS GAVE US LEGGE UP
PORT Vale captain Leon Legge has credited co-owner Carol Shanahan for lifting the doom and gloom around the club - and now wants to repay her with promotion. Shanahan and her husband Kevin took over the League Two club from the unpopular Norman Smurthwaite in May 2019 and Legge believes the change in ownership has played a massive part in Vale’s promotion push. The Valiants spent much of the last two seasons battling to avoid relegation and there were fears they would plunge into administration when the club up for sale. And Legge still remembers being dragged down by the boos from the stands at Vale Park as fans vented their anger at Smurthwaite. “It came to a point where there were protests inside and outside the ground,” said the 34-year-old defender. “You were walking through a crowd of people because they wanted the owner out, which was understandable because it is their club and they felt it was being mistreated. “We tried to focus on the game itself but there seemed to be this air of negativity and it impacted on us on the pitch. “We speak to fans now and they say it wasn’t directed at us, it was more directed at him (Smurthwaite) but when you are playing and there are boos around, you think it’s towards you.” According to Legge, Shanahan – who runs local IT company Synetics Solutions – has managed to flip everything on its head by bringing a family feel to the club. “Carol is community-orientated and she talks to the players quite a lot,” Legge said of Shanahan, who initially became chair of Vale’s community scheme, the Port Vale Foundation Trust, in 2017 before buying the club.
“She wants to make it more of a family club, wants to get more of the community involved and sees the club as the hub of the area. She has drawn more supporters back to Vale Park as well.
“The lads are well looked after and it allows us to concentrate on what we are paid to do - and that’s football. There is a lot more positivity around the place, so she has made a massive difference.”
Off-pitch stability has yielded on-field results with Vale just a point outside the play-offs and on an eightgame unbeaten run before the season was temporarily called to a halt due to the coronavirus crisis. Impact
Legge also hailed the impact of manager John Askey, who steered Vale to safety after replacing Neil Aspin in February last year and has implemented an effective change in tactics.
“The gaffer came in and changed the formation,” said Legge. “We were playing three at the back but he’s put us in a 4-3-3 and it’s more of a pressing game.
“In a league like this you have got to make it hard for teams, which we now do and you have seen from the wins against Exeter, Swindon and Colchester in recent months that it has suited us down to a T.”
Now, Legge’s ambition is simple – seal a place inside the coveted top seven.
“It’s been a great season and we just hope that we can nick a play-off spot,” he added.
“If you look at what was going on last season, you wouldn’t have thought that we would be having this type of year. I don’t think many people saw us coming.
“We were lingering in tenth for about three months and then all of a sudden we are right in the mix. People are starting to take notice of Port Vale now!”