Pace interview

[chorleyclaret]

Just looked that up. See that from the M61 sometimes but it’s a stunning church. The one around the corner from the Turf is less salubrious, I think it’s fair to say!

I live just the other side of the M61 junction. You’re welcome to nip round for a brew anytime after church Alan.

[ClaretTony]

Worth noting that article confirms Dave Checketts is joining our Board. This gent has one seriously impressive CV in the world of American sports (currently serving as president of the LDS church in London, hence not an immediate appointment):

Dave Checketts was the second name person alongside Alan Pace with the Sheffield United bid in 2019. There had been suggestions that he was only an advisor with their takeover of Burnley but obviously not.

[ClaretTony]

I live just the other side of the M61 junction. You’re welcome to nip round for a brew anytime after church Alan.

I don’t think they do brews from the church. It will have to be a glass of water I think.

[NewClaret]

Pace is, for example, looking at securing a partnering club in Europe — in vogue with many top-flight rivals. He is keen to stress that Burnley's identity may shift but will not change. 'If we were to walk in and change everything then we'd get marched out. We don't want to start over. You can do that at big clubs because no real community owns that club.

Off to bed. I’ll leave you with this thought; our newest Board member Dave Checketts negotiated Salt Lake City’s partnership with Real Madrid.

[BurnleyFC]

Dave Checketts is a pretty well known name in the world of business.

[aggi]

It's probably worth putting this up again
https://www.rslsoapbox.com/2017/2/2/143 ... ship-style

[CrosspoolClarets]

There is a lot to be excited about in that Mail article. They seem a very likeable bunch.

The traditional blending with the new, I can see how the owners and BFC seem a good fit. A very old religion, and a very modern data approach. A very old football club, and a town waiting to be reborn. The values of both seem very similar. On the big takeover thread I suggested correlations with the government’s levelling up agenda, and I can see that more clearly now.

I do a lot of data work myself, advising governments how to make the best of “big data” from the billions of annual data items at their disposal. The football industry data is quite straight forward by comparison, very detailed but manageable in size. The key is to acquire it then use it effectively, and it seems few clubs do. I’m a bit of a nerd in that sense, but I’m excited about it and wish Alan and the guys the best of luck. I look forward to taking my seat back on the Turf and seeing it unfold.

p.s. a little anecdote - I was driving on a tour of Utah a few years ago, went through Moab and then off towards Salt Lake through some very small towns, that traditional and the new rings bells again. I was in a cafe and in walks a cowboy, full Clint attire, hat, denim, gun hanging on belt (if I remember correctly), then he gets to the counter and pulls out his mobile phone, which took me aback for some reason. Loved the place. Decent people.

[mill hill claret]

I can see things taking off after reading that interview ..these guys will grow our club ...what we have been doing for the last 8 yrs ..but on a much larger scale ...

[elwaclaret]

Aha! I kind of got a Church of the Later-day Saints from the Salt Lake connection, but hadn’t thought to connect the other investors. Neither had I given Chorley a second thought. For someone of strong faith of course it played a part.

Have to say I am delighted Alan and his fellow directors cannot help but be honest and straightforward with us. I wish them all the very best with their mission(s).

[Vegas Claret]

what a superb interview - best line for me

"Help people rise beyond what they think they can achieve"

Ambition, utterly beautiful to read

[FeedTheArf]

https://www.dailymail.co.uk/sport/footb ... rnley.html

Key points:

Dave Checketts will be joining the board
We’re looking to partner with a club in Europe (presumably to circumvent the new rules on youth players)
It is NOT a moneyball approach

[Firthy]

According to the Telegraph, Pace's fellow ALK directors are Mike Smith and Stuart Hunt. It could be worse - they could be Stuart Smith and Mike Hunt

Reminds me of the diner scene from Porkies

[Stalbansclaret]

Didn't realise they were Mormons...hopefully monogamous to BFC when it coms to directing any available money and opportunity.

[Claretforever]

It all sounds really positive if you can look past the debt the club will now have. I suppose that was inevitable though.

I’m not one to believe what everything people say is true, and he has an interest in getting people on side, but at the moment I like the guy.

If we start seeing ground development plans (just plans, but for medium/longer term), particularly for the two old stands, then that will start getting people really excited. I get that this isn’t a priority right now as much as getting the first team and younger support structure perfected.

The comment about Southampton was interesting. I like the fact they’re looking to continue the long term plan of development, and perhaps driving that forward more quickly.

[LowtonClaret]

Good interview saying all the right things from a fans point of view. I do have underlying thoughts however. Possibly this is a project that could lift them to another profitable level in terms of their tech businesses. What better shop front than little old Burnley. It will either make them or break them with little risk to them and all the risk to Burnley if we are to take the debt of the borrowing. On the other hand, their innovations could lift Burnley to another level ( which I truly hope).

[Winstonswhite]

It's probably worth putting this up again
https://www.rslsoapbox.com/2017/2/2/143 ... ship-style

Is that a good article or a bad article?

[taio]

Didn't realise they were Mormons...hopefully monogamous to BFC when it coms to directing any available money and opportunity.

It will be interesting to see how their values define the club over time. I associate Mormons with honesty and integrity. It will also be interesting to see how their view of gambling influences things going forward - jdrobbo on here feels passionate about the detrimental effect it has on the game and individuals in particular, and I'm sure he'll be interested to see if there is any change in the longer-term.

[Quickenthetempo]

Welcome Alan (he says he reads fans forums)

Insightful interview.

[Red Fox Rocks Socks]

Welcome Alan (he says he reads fans forums)

Insightful interview.

I hope he doesn’t read them after we’ve lost....they’re all out then

[claretandy]

It says that he is renting a converted barn near clitheroe, not far from dyche then.

[taio]

Some legitimate concerns have been raised on here.

Like the motives of Pace and his colleagues; securing debt against the club's assets; and the financial strategy they will adopt to serve those debts, while at the same time taking the club forward. Again, legitimate concerns and risks.

I think what is apparent in the early stages of what Pace is saying is there will be no silver bullet. They will be relying on diversification - investment in youth as assets; brand development and awareness internationally; and increased commercial and global revenues, including from further growth in the Premuer League product.

In all of this, I hope the new Board continues to adopt a relatively prudent financial strategy based on long-term sustainability, marginal gains and continuous improvement.

A difficult balancing act at a club like ours without endless pots of cash, which is why I find some of the criticism - albeit from a small minority - of the previous Board and Garlick in particular totally unjustified

[Burnley1989]

Very good, a little like going to a job interview and listening to the owners passion, let’s all get on board and push in the same direction

[Hibsclaret]

Welcome Alan...nothing but good vibes from this for me.

The issue is that we all need to get behind it because their attitude is likely to be poles apart from some of the doom monger types we get on here, and, in fact, generally that follow the club....you know the ones that had us relegated after 5 games this season when we have a proven winner in charge....

Like the attitude towards Dyche before they had even met and I can see them getting along really well...

[Petersa]

Didn't realise they were Mormons...hopefully monogamous to BFC when it coms to directing any available money and opportunity.

Lets hope we dont have The Osmonds at half time

[Father Jack]

Easier to have a copy of the text on here to reflect on:


Alan Pace is in the back of a car heading for meetings at Turf Moor, coming from his rented converted barn near Clitheroe. The vehicle, winding through rural Lancashire, jolts. So does he.

'To be super clear, this is not Moneyball,' says Pace. Burnley's new chairman, an American veteran of Wall Street, clearly wants to meet perceptions with the same vigour Ashley Barnes attacks Dwight McNeil crosses.

ALK Capital, the private investment firm who purchased a controlling 84 per cent stake for about £170million, are interested in technology. They embrace data, analytics. One of the first things noticeable about ALK is that they possess a stake in two sport-tech companies.

He will use both of these — one a global scouting tool for academy players, the other an online hub for aiding transfers and backed by Pep Guardiola's brother, Pere — but insists this will not impinge on the methods already in place under manager Sean Dyche.

But before all the intricacies of how this club's identity may or may not alter over time, there is one burning question: why Burnley? A sizeable group of American investors, plenty of whom will join Pace in relocating to England, teaming up with financial institutions to take over a club in an old Lancashire mill town does not feel like normal business.

'Even my children have asked the same thing,' says Pace with a laugh. 'My father actually lived around here in the early Sixties. We were brainwashed to a degree that if you ever get the chance to be in the UK, take it.

'We're all members of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, my partners and I. My father served as a missionary here for two years when he was 19. He spent time in Leeds, Preston and Manchester, where there is a history of the Mormon community.'

One man, former president of the New York Knicks and Madison Square Garden, Dave Checketts, will be appointed to the board once his secondment to London as a mission president concludes. Those involved in this group all come with lengthy CVs and pedigrees to match. Premier League football has been their calling for some time.

ALK came close to acquiring Sheffield United in 2019 before Burnley became a viable alternative. Pace talks passionately about how the ties with its local community cannot be overestimated, that the building blocks to progress the club are in place. The 53-year-old pinpoints similarities with Real Salt Lake, who rose from the Eastern Conference's foot to winning MLS within 18 months of his appointment as chief executive.

The main difference between the two, Pace reasons, is that Burnley can truly lift off away from their roots without leaving them behind. Their global viewing figures are among the lowest in the division and the new man thinks he knows why, believing those can rise to make the club — and the town — more desirable. 'You've got to give people stories to follow,' says Pace. 'Build a connection. Jordan North [on I'm A Celebrity] is a perfect example, getting the whole country, even for two seconds, thinking about the team.

'There are going to be a few things that surprise people. We do think it's very different to what has gone before. I've been reading the fan forums and they say, 'Oh, they will bring amazing things from America'. We might bring some good ideas but you already have the best thing. You've already got the crown jewel, now we just have to put it into the crown. We don't want to rip out the heart of anything. It's nurturing what is already there. There should be announcements that people may say, 'Wow, they're doing that in a pandemic?'

Pace is, for example, looking at securing a partnering club in Europe — in vogue with many top-flight rivals. He is keen to stress that Burnley's identity may shift but will not change. 'If we were to walk in and change everything then we'd get marched out. We don't want to start over. You can do that at big clubs because no real community owns that club.

'It's our goal to make us England's favourite underdog. We want to take down some of the big boys and Sean is critical to what we're doing. What does a great manager do? Help people rise beyond what they think they can achieve. We've seen that consistently and that tells you how great Sean is. He's doing an awesome job.

'We would like him to continue for as long as he'd like to. That will be his choice.' Pace is talking just before meeting Dyche for the first time. The manager will be given funds this month, although that will be measured. 'I'll tell you, I've been offered players within 24 hours of being in charge,' says Pace. 'That is ridiculous. I don't like what I see from agents. There is a good chance for us to do things differently.

What you'll learn from us is that we under-promise and over-deliver. The last thing we want to do is come here and say 'We'll spend £30million in the window, we'll be in the Champions League in five years'. We are here to work our tails off and there will be some cool stuff along the way.

'There is an evolution on the sports tech side and it's really time football started to go a bit further. When you look at data and analytics, they don't require someone needing to have done 30 years as a scout. There is a little bit of living in the past [in football].'

That is something levelled at the club he now runs, of course.

'I'm not disagreeing with you,' says Pace. 'There is a tremendous opportunity here to mesh data with experience. We'll try different things but that doesn't mean everything at our disposal gets used or is the best thing for this club. We're willing to come in as evolutionary rather than revolutionary. This is why living locally is important. They'll see us walking down the street, talk to us.'

Fans will not bump into the financial institutions linked with ALK Capital, though. Money has been borrowed from Michael Dell's MSD UK Holdings, a company used by other English clubs. 'I can't change perceptions. We're not billionaires and even if we were, I'm not sure I'd do it any differently. We're in this for the long term. If it's only about the fund, the money, we'd ride out a couple of years and flip the club.'

The academy is fundamental. 'This should be an aspirational place,' says Pace. 'We need to try to become the home of English players coming through up here.

Look at Southampton, we have a tremendous amount of respect for what they did with their academy. Yet over the last five years, under the current owner, they have destroyed that.

'This comes back to the different revenue streams. It cannot be based solely on selling of players. And what has happened in the North West over the past few years is a shame... from having all these Premier League clubs, all this passion, to demoralising everyone because of bad owners.

We can take this club to a different level with help. Are there great opportunities for us to build a more ambitious club? Yes, be it winning a cup competition or getting to the Europa again, or whatever things looks like in the next four or five years. Here is a successful club in its own right. Let's broaden its success, rather than defining it by one thing.'

[gandhisflipflop]

Basically has a similar attitude to myself when I get challenged by the orient brigade and the people who can’t see the growth potential beyond the towns boundaries. It’s so refreshing to hear that the club will be shifting from the small time tinpot corner shop mentality. He is right when he says we need a story to tell. The world needs to know that we were once English champions. I think he will be a brilliant chairman for us. Welcome Alan, I for one am excited for your tenure and the opportunity to open the doors of BFC to the world.

[Claretforever]

Lets hope we dont have The Osmonds at half time

And they call it Popey love....

[NewClaret]

It says that he is renting a converted barn near clitheroe, not far from dyche then.

Hopefully helps them strike up a good relationship!

[Grumps]

Interesting they choose the mail for the first interview. Many on here think they are unreliable as far as Burnley is concerned, but yet they will have been advised by the club which paper to trust.

[Father Jack]

My own observations:
Increasing our profile - nationally and overseas.
It will be of great benefit to the club and town to be associated with positive news stories and creative marketing. I really like the idea of being the favourite underdog and have long felt that we haven’t got anywhere near the level of recognition that the achievements of working on our budget should have done.
So I hope ALK bring good marketing & PR skills and start to make the right connections to influence the media in Manchester & London. And also think this will require a shift in our playing style overtime in order to shake off the lazy opinions & dislike that we always seem to be labelled with. The financial backing in recruitment will need to help drive this with better players & Dyche has a massive role here too in his approach & framework.

Overseas partner club.
Again this should help broaden the horizons of little Burnley with a route for young players acquisition which bypasses the new restrictions post Brexit and enhances our European scouting potential. Will be interesting to see which club & league. And whether youth loans are still permitted to enable our academy players to get overseas playing time.

[cricketfieldclarets]

So much opportunity at this club. Our location. Our history. Our potential. Our academy. Our manager.

Glad we have someone who looks like they see that potential and want to take on the challenge.

There’s no guarantees but things look and sound exciting.

People need to look beyond the catchment area. Our opportunity is enormous.

[Corky]

Is that a good article or a bad article?

It would suggest that perhaps we should have asked Dell Loy Hansen to buy the club!!!

[Lowbankclaret]

Well at least I get the impression they know what they have bought into.

Sounds like more of the same but with debtor service. Not that I am going to complain about more of the same.

Having spend most of my working life working with data, it has its place but I have seen people go in the complete wrong direction.

Let’s hope it’s all positive from here.

[Steve-Harpers-perm]

A good interview and sounds like exciting times ahead.

[randomclaret2]

Mr Pace has already tweeted this morning to " advertise " the interview

[NewClaret]

A difficult balancing act at a club like ours without endless pots of cash, which is why I find some of the criticism - albeit from a small minority - of the previous Board and Garlick in particular totally unjustified

Totally understand your points around debt being concerning. And of course, I’d rather it were entirely unleveraged in an ideal world.

Mike Garlick has done a fantastic job, well deserved his rewards, and should long be remembered as the Chairman that built these foundations.

What has struck me from this interview, and reading about Checketts, is how ambitious these guys are! And ambition is something we’ve been lacking since reaching this level, really. To “push on” you have to want to and believe you can. These guys do. I’m not sure that we could’ve achieved that with the self-proclaimed “budgeting for 17th” every year and approaching survival as the goal. Yes, it will always be an achievement in and of itself, but shouldn’t be the goal.

We need to give the manager, players and fans visible signs of progression in all areas of the football club to maintain their interest and motivation. To build excitement around the club. Otherwise we go stagnant and start slipping back.

We all know the status quo between Dyche/Garlick was not sustainable, so something had to change. These guys seem to have the right attitude and approach, which is more important to me than being billionaires.

[TheFamilyCat]

"England's Favourite Underdog"

I hope they start selling mugs with that on!

[bfcmatt]

https://www.dailymail.co.uk/sport/footb ... rnley.html

Key points:

Dave Checketts will be joining the board
We’re looking to partner with a club in Europe (presumably to circumvent the new rules on youth players)
It is NOT a moneyball approach

You missed the bit about he reads the forums..... be careful what you say people.

[NewClaret]

You missed the bit about he reads the forums..... be careful what you say people.

Probably lay in bed reading this thread as we speak

[randomclaret2]

Someone on twitter has asked why he chose The Mail, and he has replied directly

[Bullabill]

Easier to have a copy of the text on here to reflect on:

Thanks, Father Jack. Your effort is appreciated.

[TheFamilyCat]

You missed the bit about he reads the forums..... be careful what you say people.

He won't be house hunting in Barley then.

[onewillieirvine]

It's like The Wall has come down!! A very impressive group of people indeed. I just hope Mr Pace and Sean are on the same page. I think we're in for a fantastic few years.

[Colburn_Claret]

An excellent read.
I have been impressed with everything he says, especially concerning the club. Most new owners have a long list of soundbites at the ready, yet Mr Pace seems to genuinely understand the club, its fans, and it's problems within the Premier league.
Evolution rather than revolution, supports my own wishes for the club. Baby steps built on solid ground.
I don't know how much they can achieve this window, time is probably too short, but the next 2 or 3 should be interesting.

[clarethomer]

Someone on twitter has asked why he chose The Mail, and he has replied directly

And....

[randomclaret2]

Jack Gaughan has tweeted..." Pace quote that didn’t get in: “They (MSD Holdings) have no equity and no decision-making power. If you’re going to buy a house, would you not use a mortgage? It’s about choosing the right building society. It’s how we operate. It makes sense to do it in a sound, sensible way.”

[Steve-Harpers-perm]

It's like The Wall has come down!! A very impressive group of people indeed. I just hope Mr Pace and Sean are on the same page. I think we're in for a fantastic few years.

This will be the interesting part if Dyche buys into what they want to bring to the club. Every chance of course he might not.

[BenWickes]

A positive read that. Not sure on the 'monogamous' though St Albans. I know a mormon in Ogden, Utah and she'd fit right in at one of Godisadeejay's
clubs he attends.

[NewClaret]

Someone on twitter has asked why he chose The Mail, and he has replied directly

Really, where’s that? I can’t see it in the replies?

I was waiting for someone to complain about an interview in the DM though!

[Top Claret]

I like the sound of these guys and like the fact that they're Mormons they should have high morals and do what is best for the club.

It will also be good to have better communications between the owners and fans as this was lacking with our previous board