Incoming Burnley chairman Alan Pace is planning to care for Burnley as if the club was a family member; his American company ALK Capital completed its takeover of Burnley last week; Pace has met with Sean Dyche and promised to back him in the transfer window
Tuesday 5 January 2021 17:43, UK
New Burnley chairman Alan Pace has promised to be a different kind of caring owner following his ALK Capital group's takeover of the Clarets.
The deal was finalised in the early hours of New Year's Eve, making Burnley the latest foreign-owned club in the Premier League.
In a lengthy online press conference, it was put to Pace that takeovers at other north-west clubs like Blackburn, Wigan, Bolton and Blackpool have all turned sour.
He said in response: "I don't think you've ever seen anyone like me and you certainly haven't seen someone like me come in to run a football club and interact with the community and live in the community."
Pace continued: "We actually do honestly mean it when we say we are concerned about the long-term viability of this club, just as if we were a family member.
"So we're not going to do stupid stuff. We may say silly things that people take umbrage with but we think we're going to act differently and we're going to certainly show that in everything we do."
Loans were involved in ALK's purchase, which may set alarm bells ringing among fans, but Pace, the former chief executive of Major League Soccer's Real Salt Lake, insisted that will not negatively impact the club.
He said: "The loans that we have involved in this transaction are absolutely reasonable and absolutely in line with what can be supported by this club and will not take away from the ability to operate on a daily basis."
Pace has had a meeting with manager Sean Dyche and has promised to back him in the transfer window.
"I thought it went well," said the businessman. "I've been looking forward to it for quite some time.
"We're very, very big fans. We like consistency, we like longevity and we see what an amazing manager he is and leader.
"He does have some things he's looking at, we're supportive of what he's looking at.
"I don't expect Sean to be frustrated. I hope that he will be pleased with the way we can support him and interact with him and that will be our efforts on a constant basis."
Pace does not want to make rash promises but clearly has ambitions for Burnley beyond a yearly fight against relegation and plans to grow the club's reach internationally.
He said: "There's things here we think to reach beyond where we are today.
"I can't give you a timeframe - who would have thought we were going to go into another lockdown if we were six months ago - so the hard part is not knowing what's next for us in the short term.
"But I can tell you, if we're fortunate enough to still be here in 20 years, the ambitions of this club will be very different."
