Burnley A Good Fit: Chairman

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New owners outline plans and intention to back boss Sean Dyche

2021-01-05T19:10:32.908Z

Burnley A Good Fit: Chairman

New owners outline plans and intention to back boss Sean Dyche

2021-01-05T19:10:32.908Z

Alan's notes ahead of this afternoon's game

New Burnley Football Club chairman Alan Pace has given his full backing to the work of manager Sean Dyche and outlined his thoughts on bringing a positive future to Turf Moor.

Pace – managing partner of new club owners ALK Capital – held his first virtual media conference since the successful takeover of the Clarets which saw the American replace Mike Garlick as chairman.

In a wide-ranging set of interviews, Pace made clear the new board’s support for Dyche and their plans to back the Burnley manager in the January transfer window.

And he also explained the appeal for investing in Burnley as a member of the Premier League, which he described as the greatest sports’ league in the world with the worldwide appeal to match.

“Burnley fit a number of things we felt were important to us long-term; primarily looking at the passion, the operating structure, the opportunity for growth and the ability for us to have an impact as a management team and an organisation,” said Pace.

Alan's notes ahead of this afternoon's game

“When we looked around at various clubs, one of the things that stood out was the position of this club in this community is unbelievable, the way it has brought it together, the way it’s at the centre of the community.

“Also, the longevity of the manager, the ability of him, specifically, to have punched well above his weight, as far as the team is concerned, and the financial stability of the club and the way it’s been run all led us to the place we have come to, which we thought was a great opportunity.

“We think there are some building blocks here we can actually work with.

“It’s really important to us to see there is a very solid, historical relationship between fans, community, club.

“Where you sit in the country and the passion of the game in this part of the country; it’s not a corporate environment, it’s not a tourism environment. It’s very much ‘live, breathe, die Burnley football’.”

Pace – who has set up a family base in the Ribble Valley – will split his time between offices in New York and London and Turf Moor. He will be ‘hands-on’ in looking to drive the Clarets forward and expects 80 per cent of his time to be spent at the football club.

He has held his first talks with Dyche and wants the Clarets’ boss to be part of the long-term plans, with the initial focus on January transfer targets to try and build on a superb run of form which lifted Burnley clear of the Premier League’s bottom three.

“We are very big fans,” added the chairman. “We like consistency, we like longevity and we see what an amazing manager he is, and a leader. Leadership is really important to us.

“He does have some things he’s looking at. We’re supportive of what he’s looking at.

“If he wants to go forward on the things he wants to do we’ll be there and support what he needs to have happen.

“The prudence here is being able to move swiftly and support what needs to be done.

“I would expect we’d be thoughtful in the process because that’s what Sean has always done.

“We will be very supportive of making sure he can achieve his goals. I don’t expect Sean to be frustrated.”