Alan Pace

[Quickenthetempo]

Quoted you for your attention, not the post so deleted.

As the prime driver on this board for a better social media presence, now we are the best in the transfer reveal market, how has it helped the club?

Are we financially better off for it do you think? Are we classed as having a bigger world wide supporter base?

I watched a small business that was struggling get advice from Debbie M from dragons den on a TV show. They put a lot of effort into their socials, doing tik tok everyday of their food specials, looking amazing.

She told them unless you can buy your product online while watching the video there and then it's more or less pointless.
They set up online delivery for 50 products a day linked to the videos and increased trading.

Have we increased trading overseas yet? Shirts/match streams etc..?

I'm only asking you as you take a big interest in this side.

[Nori1958]

I think the only plausible way we can get back to being debt free is staying in the prem for 3-4 years.

We are likely to double our debt in the next 12 months trying to sign players that will keep us up.

The pressure is on VK he’s got to perform over the next few years.

But recruitment looks to have improved so hopefully he’s got a good chance.

Nearly all successful clubs carry debt, some more than others. The real issue is being able to service that debt, just like in life in general

Some say the lack of debt in the past held us back. Had some of the savings been released, the club could possibly been more successful than it was.

A debt free club doesn't mean a successful club.

[aggi]

I guess the question that it boils down to is "Did the club paying £80m for a new board pay off?"

I'm not convinced we're there yet but there are positive signs.

[JTClaret]

He's doing a fantastic job so far, with the biggest, most impressive, and most important thing being appointing Vincent Kompany.

I do have to say though, Garlick is getting some stick on here, and although the lack of investment was a frustration, and the concern about the leveraged deal, he does look to have sold the club to people who are aiming to push the club in the right direction. Could we actually ever ask of more from a chairman? He got us back in the premier league (he was the chairman that hired Sean Dyche), kept us as a well run club in the top division and looks to have sold us to someone who can take us to the next level.
I'd rather just say thank you than slag him off.

[GodIsADeeJay81]

I don't have access to shirt sales, something people get fixated upon,

The clubs social media following has already grown, it's about 50% higher I think Chester said recently.

We're getting media stories written about our social media player reveals, which are better for the club than the plane banner incident, this in turn raises the profile of the club generating more positive interest.

If a club has a positive media image, this can then be used to attract more/better sponsorship deals because businesses will want to be associated with us, especially international ones

Also, the signing of foreign players tends to help, as shown by the large number of South Africans popping up when we signed Foster.
If he was to become success in the PL, this has the potential to increase our foreign fanbase/viewing figures whilst he's with us.

Match streams - doesn't always work properly does it?
I don't know what the viewing figures are for Burnley currently, but the season Bournemouth got relegated they had the lowest average of 650k per game.
We had 700k per game on average the same season, which weirdly was more than West Ham, but 250k behind Norwich!!
(That should increase if we go up playing the more attractive football if it's effective)

( I have advocated for an NFL style streaming platform for football, I think it would work better than the current system which is out of date now in my opinion)

The club are heading in the right direction with social media, revamp of the in ground advertising etc and we should start to see an increase in revenue when the clubs accounts are out.

One of the biggest improvements has been how the club was viewed on the pitch, we were wrongly labelled as a bunch of rough houses who were dirty and should've been playing rugby/Brexit football etc, but that's been dispelled completely now.
We've got a big group of mainly young, up and coming stars from various countries who're playing attractive, effective football which is attracting positive attention
Without that, the social media side wouldn't be as effective, but in tandem it's really good
Debra M is right, no good advertising something if the product itself isn't available, or even attractive, but our shirts are available via the sponsor and they can ship abroad better than the club can thankfully

The club still has work to do, but looking for a director of tech is a sign that they know what needs to be done and are trying.

I have some ideas about where else they could improve their social media/website but I'm content to sit back and see what else they do

[RVclaret]

I guess the question that it boils down to is "Did the club paying £80m for a new board pay off?"

I'm not convinced we're there yet but there are positive signs.

Yeah, this is kinda how I view it too... just while highlighting Garlick was as much, if not more, to 'blame' for the money taken OUT of the club to fund the takeover in this manner. Even then, I believe he's found 'good guys' to run the club.

Aside from the funding side of the takeover, I couldn't be happier with how Pace has gone about things, there are some really crap owners out there, even the billionaire ones, that have no clue what they are doing. I firmly believe in the vision and direction we appear to be heading in (I have stuck by this even on relegation, before the on field success we've seen).

[arise_sir_charge]

Two very simple measures of whether some of the actions taken are paying off could be shirt and ticket sales.

The shirt if our best selling ever and tickets are becoming increasingly difficult to get hold of with average attendances up 2,500 on our last stint at this level. That likely equates to an additional £60k ticket income per home game.

We will see more what kind of positive effect the changes have had when we hit the summer and we are on the hunt for sponsorship etc.

[bfcjg]

The club was for sale,someone was always going to buy it, at the moment I am very impressed,and at the start I was quite cynical.

[Newcastleclaret93]

The club is already quite some way ahead of where you thought we would be surely though, considering you expected a season of a struggle with ta best a mid table finish and more chance of relegation than promotion.

Who is putting the pressure on Kompany ? Recruitment looks to have improved is another step ahead of where you thought we would be due to us doing it on the cheap all summer. You might enjoy the club a bit more if you just watched the games and focussed less on things you don't understand.

To be fair that not exactly accurate, I Yo Yoed all summer. With some people taking the **** out of me for saying we would walk the league, then when we sold McNeil and Collins without bringing anyone in I said we would be mid table. Then when we brought people in I said I had no idea as most of them were unknown.

I don’t think I have said anything unrealistic. For the club to be a stable prem club with no debt (where we were), Kompany has to be given the funds and perform.

[ArmchairDetective]

I've said before and I'll say it again. Issues with the takeover itself lie with the previous board and their willingness to take cash away from the club in order to sell. Pace and his team would have been foolish not to take the offer.

Its been clear since the new board took over how they are looking to grow the club in more ways than just on the pitch, such as improving the match day experience and global reach of the club. It's no coincidence that there's more fans attending than ever compared to recent years. It's also clear to see how committed to the cause Alan Pace is. He's attending matches regularly, attends with his family and lives locally. There are owners of top clubs in England that receive very little criticism for doing far less.

These are exciting times. And in another six months I have no doubts that the nay sayers will be even fewer in number.

[houseboy]

This ‘debt free’ business is a bit of a dream really isn’t it? Even huge clubs have had it at least temporarily, look at United, not sure about now but at one time eye watering levels of debt due to the purchase (was it £750 million at one point). There was a time (and maybe still us) when most clubs were In debt. Debt is often a fact of life in any business (speculate to accumulate) and the debt we have is probably nothing more than an investment not dissimilar to a bank loan to start/buy a business, it happens all the time all over the world. I think we are expecting too much considering the rampant inflation in our game caused by the billionaire owners who care little or nothing for the effect their out of control spending on players and wages is having on the rest of the clubs.
Manageable debt is maybe the best we can hope for if we are going to be longer term members of the PL because although the PL pays large amounts to clubs it is costing ever increasing amounts to be in it. We could earn a billion pounds a year from the PL but we are still going to be in debt if t costs 1.1 billion to stay in it.

[Newcastleclaret93]

Nearly all successful clubs carry debt, some more than others. The real issue is being able to service that debt, just like in life in general

Some say the lack of debt in the past held us back. Had some of the savings been released, the club could possibly been more successful than it was.

A debt free club doesn't mean a successful club.

I fully appreciate that. But I can’t think of a single successful club in the premier league that isn’t backed by at least a multi millionaire. That is why I believe having zero debt is critical for a club like ours, we can’t afford the luxury of running significant debt.

The end of the day, time will tell how successful the new ownership are. My concern is the long term, where will we be in 5-10 years?

For now I’m just enjoying this potentially record breaking season and not going to worry about what might be.

[arise_sir_charge]

Can’t agree that we were a stable Prem club. We had flirted with relegation and had some horrendous transfer windows, including the Dale Stephens shambles, that meant we had an ageing and declining squad with an handful of sellable assets.

[jedi_master]

I never liked the mechanism used for the purchase of the club, as I said (and many others) at the time.

What's done is done though - we all have to move on. The success we're enjoying is superb and I will judge things financially with an open mind to see how we take on the challenges of the next level up. Pace has judged the managerial stuff excellently, and that was a massive, massive risk he took getting rid of Dyche and deciding to change things so dramatically with VK. The rewards are there to see for that decision, one can only doff their cap because it looked a scary prospect in the summer with a shell of a squad.

The other big plus has been the strategical change to recruitment. Debt is never good, but the good thing is we are signing players with massive upsides to them and potential to be sold for 5/6 times above what we paid for them (at least!). This means we are somewhat protected against on the pitch failure/debt obligations due to the ability to sell off crown jewels when it suits us. I have no doubt we'll look to bring more of a similar profile in this summer whilst probably moving on the remaining players that have monetary value but who will be on the slide value wise (Taylor and Weghorst come to mind).

[tiger76]

Can't be bothered scrolling through the whole thread, however although I still have reservations about the takeover, and especially the way it's was funded, something clearly had to change as although we were debt free and in the PL the club as a whole was stagnating, ageing squad, lack of investment and a manager who seemingly had little or no interest in scouting for young players with potential, or indeed tapping into the overseas market for bargains.

Yes we suffered relegation, however looking on the bright side this allowed VK to come in and put his own stamp on the club, plus many of our high earners and longer term players moved on, what's been impressive is how seamless the change in style has been from SD to VK, under Dyche we were perceived as a dogged PL side who could often get under the skin of the big boys, but in the last 18 months of his reign nobody can say the football was enjoyable to watch.

Now we are considered the entertainers and rightly so given our performances under VK to date, results will allows be the benchmark of success for any club, but if Pace is looking for outside investment then this improved image of our play can do no harm.

I am one of those who does worry about our debt, however I and others might just have to accept that debt is a reality for most clubs trying to compete in the top echelons of English football, and as long as it's serviceable, which with the PL money and the value of our assets it should be, then it's a small price to pay to enjoy the footy on show.

Under Garlick we were debt free but he was accused of lacking ambition, now under Pace we carry debt but you can't knock what he's trying to do to improve our brand, and like it or not branding is vital in the modern game.

[Cooclaret]

He's doing a fantastic job so far, with the biggest, most impressive, and most important thing being appointing Vincent Kompany.

I do have to say though, Garlick is getting some stick on here, and although the lack of investment was a frustration, and the concern about the leveraged deal, he does look to have sold the club to people who are aiming to push the club in the right direction. Could we actually ever ask of more from a chairman? He got us back in the premier league (he was the chairman that hired Sean Dyche), kept us as a well run club in the top division and looks to have sold us to someone who can take us to the next level.
I'd rather just say thank you than slag him off.

And criminally underinvested in almost every aspect of the club. That underinvestment has had to be addressed and is taking a significant amount of time.

There’s a thread about the pitch lower down, should’ve been replaced years ago. The grounds staff have been performing miracles. Same with most of the clubs departments, run in a shoestring!

Without the fantastic (and some awful) staff and managers we’d be in an awful position.

[Spijed]

Tbf to both parties, Garlick and Pace, it's ultimately very difficult to know how much to invest in the Prem, regardless of what people say at certain points in time.

We had six years, including a European experience, yet many other clubs have invested far more and got far less to show for their stints in the PL.

When you look at how easy West Ham have gone from a top 6/7 team to now having a poor season, it shows the brutally of Premier league football and how easily teams can get dragged down, regardless of the situation in previous seasons.

[Big Vinny K]

And criminally underinvested in almost every aspect of the club. That underinvestment has had to be addressed and is taking a significant amount of time.

There’s a thread about the pitch lower down, should’ve been replaced years ago. The grounds staff have been performing miracles. Same with most of the clubs departments, run in a shoestring!

Without the fantastic (and some awful) staff and managers we’d be in an awful position.

“Criminally underinvested” ????

With all due respect that’s rubbish - we have fantastic training facilities which will be up there with anything outside the Premier League and better than a few in the PL.
Our pitch has been one of the best for years - some of the pitches outside of the PL are awful. We have underground heating and regularly replace the pitch at significant cost.

This is all been possible because of our time in the Premier League and Dyche & Garlick need to be given a lot of credit for that investment in our training ground - especially Dyche who insisted on it and undoubtedly sacrificed transfer funds for it for the good of the long term future of the club.

[elwaclaret]

“Criminally underinvested” ????

With all due respect that’s rubbish - we have fantastic training facilities which will be up there with anything outside the Premier League and better than a few in the PL.
Our pitch has been one of the best for years - some of the pitches outside of the PL are awful. We have underground heating and regularly replace the pitch at significant cost.

This is all been possible because of our time in the Premier League and Dyche & Garlick need to be given a lot of credit for that investment in our training ground - especially Dyche who insisted on it and undoubtedly sacrificed transfer funds for it for the good of the long term future of the club.

Which is why I don’t hold with generalisations. SD and Garlick made major strides in their yeas together. However for the last couple of years they were like millstones around the clubs neck and Pace coming in was a blessing.

Yes we have debt we wouldn’t have in an ideal world, but the club was in danger of treading water until the money was gone anyway as it stood. We needed new enthusiasm and while final judgements must be reserved, it seems hard at the moment to doubt money or not Pace and his team have the ideas and drive to drive the clubs ambition.

[Jakubclaret]

Tbf to both parties, Garlick and Pace, it's ultimately very difficult to know how much to invest in the Prem, regardless of what people say at certain points in time.

We had six years, including a European experience, yet many other clubs have invested far more and got far less to show for their stints in the PL.

When you look at how easy West Ham have gone from a top 6/7 team to now having a poor season, it shows the brutally of Premier league football and how easily teams can get dragged down, regardless of the situation in previous seasons.

It doesn't take much as well you can effectively just lose 1 player without adaquately replacing & it'll hurt, palace without gallagher you can tell from last season to this. There's always reasons for why thing are the way their are, in west hams case you can point to players out of form whereas the season before almost everybody was in form. The premier league outside the top half (6 if you will) is a fragile unpredictable place to be.

[Cooclaret]

“Criminally underinvested” ????

With all due respect that’s rubbish - we have fantastic training facilities which will be up there with anything outside the Premier League and better than a few in the PL.
Our pitch has been one of the best for years - some of the pitches outside of the PL are awful. We have underground heating and regularly replace the pitch at significant cost.

This is all been possible because of our time in the Premier League and Dyche & Garlick need to be given a lot of credit for that investment in our training ground - especially Dyche who insisted on it and undoubtedly sacrificed transfer funds for it for the good of the long term future of the club.

I don’t agree, the last few years, Garlick was feathering his pot.

Dyche is not in the same pot.

The club and staff teams were being run into the ground to maximise the potential return.

[Big Vinny K]

I don’t agree, the last few years, Garlick was feathering his pot.

Dyche is not in the same pot.

The club and staff teams were being run into the ground to maximise the potential return.

Again - with all due respect (a little less respect every time tbh) - that’s rubbish again.
Take a look at the staff numbers and total salary costs including playing and non playing staff year on year.
They increased year on year. The non playing staff almost doubled over a 3 or 4 year period. And we know players wages reached the highest ever in the clubs history
By all means feel free to criticise Garlick, Dyche and whoever you want….but maybe do it based on actual facts

[Rileybobs]

Again - with all due respect (a little less respect every time tbh) - that’s rubbish again.
Take a look at the staff numbers and total salary costs including playing and non playing staff year on year.
They increased year on year. The non playing staff almost doubled over a 3 or 4 year period. And we know players wages reached the highest ever in the clubs history
By all means feel free to criticise Garlick, Dyche and whoever you want….but maybe do it based on actual facts

It does make me laugh. Apparently renewing the enormous contracts of established Premier League players is classed as criminal underinvestment, yet selling our best players and replacing them at a fraction of a cost is investment. The mind boggles.

[Big Vinny K]

And whilst we are talking about “criminal underinvestment” if we add up what Burnley have invested in our training facility, our disabled stands, our pitch and our corporate hospitality facilities I’d estimate there is little change out of £30m.
Put that into perspective and it’s probably more than all of our local rivals put together (Blackburn, Bolton, Blackpool, Preston, Wigan etc) have spent on their facilities in total during the last 5 or 6 years.

We really don’t realise how lucky we have been to support Burnley in the last 10 years or so. It’s incredible the success we have had - and then when you look at what has happened this season you have to pinch yourself.

[Big Vinny K]

It does make me laugh. Apparently renewing the enormous contracts of established Premier League players is classed as criminal underinvestment, yet selling our best players and replacing them at a fraction of a cost is investment. The mind boggles.

I get that not everyone can understand or is interested in our detailed accounts but there are plenty of threads on here which try and explain these in simple terms.
Even if you look at this at the very basic level - eg which type of cost is going up or down then surely you would not make these kind of statements unless you had a preconceived view of the club or it’s owners which for whatever reason you are not prepared to change.

[Cooclaret]

Again - with all due respect (a little less respect every time tbh) - that’s rubbish again.
Take a look at the staff numbers and total salary costs including playing and non playing staff year on year.
They increased year on year. The non playing staff almost doubled over a 3 or 4 year period. And we know players wages reached the highest ever in the clubs history
By all means feel free to criticise Garlick, Dyche and whoever you want….but maybe do it based on actual facts

That opening line, you’re a very rude person, bordering on arrogance.

Non playing staff, not interested in playing staff, that’s Dyches domain and that’s a different conversation.

The club was being run on shoestring budgets, turnover was horrendous, struggled to recruit, and when they did, many were shoehorned into roles that they had little or near no experience of. Morale was on the floor. I’ve more than one or two friends who worked there (at various levels), and these are first hand reports of their experiences. No budget sheet will give you that.

Garlick oversaw that, and green lighted many of the failed appointments. The club became a bigger business than he could manage and he rightly wanted to cash out his initial investment.

He got lucky with Judas, and then luckier with Dyche, and then cashed out. Fair play, but don’t be blinkered about the reality.

[Big Vinny K]

That opening line, you’re a very rude person, bordering on arrogance.

Non playing staff, not interested in playing staff, that’s Dyches domain and that’s a different conversation.

The club was being run on shoestring budgets, turnover was horrendous, struggled to recruit, and when they did, many were shoehorned into roles that they had little or near no experience of. Morale was on the floor. I’ve more than one or two friends who worked there (at various levels), and these are first hand reports of their experiences. No budget sheet will give you that.

Garlick oversaw that, and green lighted many of the failed appointments. The club became a bigger business than he could manage and he rightly wanted to cash out his initial investment.

He got lucky with Judas, and then luckier with Dyche, and then cashed out. Fair play, but don’t be blinkered about the reality.

Garlick did not employ Coyle - not too hot on the facts are we ?

The non playing staff increased to the highest level in the clubs history. Garlick was the one presumably agreeing to that - how can you say that is a shoestring budget when it was the highest in our history ?

If we are talking about moral of the staff then clearly you have very little idea of what happened in the first few months under the new owners when many people who had been at the club for 15 or 20 years were told to leave the club.

[BurnleyFC]

Regardless of the sound bites coming out of the club, we absolutely did need to get promoted this season.

That looks like a formality now, so kudos to VK and Alan Pace.

[Stockbrokerbelt]

Genuine question, if this season is as successful as it looks likely to end in promotion & who knows a good cup run, positive media around our football, team & management, also the ground looks great on TV. Will that make us more likely to another take over or serious investors eying a deal. Winners are always looked at?

[daveisaclaret]

It's a strange and possibly not unbiased value system where Pace has done a great job to bring Kompany in but Garlick was lucky to bring in Dyche.

Pace has demonstrated after a shaky start, by recruiting and then mostly handing recruitment over to Kompany that he can run a football club very astutely. At least in the Championship and most likely in the Premier League.

Does that mean the club will be in a good position when he's ready to cash in? I still don't really understand how, but success won't be contingent on my understanding.

[GodIsADeeJay81]

Genuine question, if this season is as successful as it looks likely to end in promotion & who knows a good cup run, positive media around our football, team & management, also the ground looks great on TV. Will that make us more likely to another take over or serious investors eying a deal. Winners are always looked at?

Yes it does encourage further investors or a new buyer.

Bournemouth have just been sold and they're not half the club we are, physically or historically.
They're just on the coast but that's it.

[Clive 1960]

Genuine question, if this season is as successful as it looks likely to end in promotion & who knows a good cup run, positive media around our football, team & management, also the ground looks great on TV. Will that make us more likely to another take over or serious investors eying a deal. Winners are always looked at?

As I stated last year Mr Pace brought a friend over to the Norwich game from China who was interested but we all know what happened at Norwich and subsequently Mr Dyche lost is job , if that person is still waiting in the wings we might well see investment from abroad which we need if we are ambitious to keep up and hold our own . Let's just wait and see. UTC

[ClaretAL]

Only on here could you get Burnley Fans finding something to bicker about when we are currently living the dream. Sit back and enjoy the moment guys, you cant do anything about the past.

[HiThere]

Agree, can we stop arguing? We're on the same side remember.

[Jakubclaret]

Leave them to it they aren't doing anybody any harm sometimes you need to get things off your chest.

[KRBFC]

City were averaging 28K in the second division to be fair. I think they are one of those "city" teams that are more like they come from a town, a bit like Everton - so I think people are born fans of those clubs and always will be. Chelsea I would probably agree with

I was talking strictly foreign people growing up supporting Man City, not the locals.

[Paul Waine]

I think I've read all the posts on this thread. No one has mentioned this morning's news that the MSD loan has been paid off.

Companies House has recorded that MSD Charge registered Dec 2020 has been Satisfied on 8 Feb 2023. Companies House records show this for Burnley Football & Athletic, Burnley Football Club Holdings and Calder Vale Holdings.

Further discussion on the ALK thread.

[KRBFC]

It's been mentioned elsewhere but as soon as we drop and stay down all our support we earn, as with every other small club in the Prem, vanishes.

All you are seeing is a temporary thing with clubs like ours. Our global support might increase a little bit as we are flavour of the month for a season or two but it will never increase permanently.

A few seasons away from the Prem and our gates will be back to a similar level to that of Preston and Rovers no matter how well we've done under the ownership of Alan Pace with VK as manager in the meantime.

Hence why Rovers are now playing in a ground that's too big for them despite winning the PL. They are now playing in front of gates which is at the level you'd expect in the Championship.

That's just they way it is.

You completely missed the point entirely and chose to go with the negative outcome that we'll be relegated, our attendances will drop and we'll fall into being mediocre.

The point was Pace and co are trying to make the club more attractive for investors to buy into, fan bases do not stay the same, it changes on generations and largely determined by success in the previous generation.

Lets pretend in 2010 the % of Accrington that are born Burnley fans is 20%, well that figure in 2023 might have doubled, that is fan base growth.

[Chester Perry]

It is interesting that the person who speaks most glowingly of the Garlick/Dyche legacy at the club is a certain Vincent Kompany who has been delighted with the infrastructure, support teams and culture already in place for his players and staff, the way he has talked about it suggests it has allowed him to focus much more on the teams development and turbo charge the sublime progress on the pitch.

For those who complain about lack of investment behind the scenes, the accounts show that monies where spent every year on growth and development in these areas - the problem to an extent is that these spends were not specifically revenue generating, they were more about workplace enhancement and providing the foundations for what we are seeing now, albeit under a different ownership.

There is also the cost of the football side of the business to factor in - I produced this table back in November for an article in the London Clarets magazine 'something to write home about'- it clearly demonstrates just how much of our revenues were spent on the cost of football (amortisation + wages) in those final years. I believe this would have been something that Pace would have wanted to address, but will have to anyhow going forward as it becomes a feature of financial sustainability rules in coming years at both European and domestic levels. UEFA is targeting a wages + amortisation to revenue ratio of 70% by the 2025/26 season

Overview 1998-2020.JPG (173.66 KiB) Viewed 1196 times

The other thing many continue to ignore as they rewrite history is the fear of fiscal disaster that Covid brought and to a large extent that came to fruition for many clubs across the game.

The approach of Garlick and Dyche is hugely different to what Pace and Kompany have - Both pairings took risks just in different ways - the former left a legacy that has facilitated what we are currently enjoying the fruits of, the hope is that the current pairing will leave a legacy that allows for further development and fan jubilation in the future

[Jakubclaret]

I think I've read all the posts on this thread. No one has mentioned this morning's news that the MSD loan has been paid off.

Companies House has recorded that MSD Charge registered Dec 2020 has been Satisfied on 8 Feb 2023. Companies House records show this for Burnley Football & Athletic, Burnley Football Club Holdings and Calder Vale Holdings.

Further discussion on the ALK thread.

"Further discussion on the ALK thread"
That sure had the desired effect

[Spijed]

You completely missed the point entirely and chose to go with the negative outcome that we'll be relegated, our attendances will drop and we'll fall into being mediocre.

The point was Pace and co are trying to make the club more attractive for investors to buy into, fan bases do not stay the same, it changes on generations and largely determined by success in the previous generation.

Lets pretend in 2010 the % of Accrington that are born Burnley fans is 20%, well that figure in 2023 might have doubled, that is fan base growth.

We are bound to get relegated in the next few years though, and eventually we won't come back up. All it takes is one of the promoted sides to stay up and a team that's been there a few seasons has to drop. Southampton or another side that has been there a few seasons will go this year.

Since the start of the Prem EVERY side bar the established ones (including Everton at this point) have been relegated.

Unless you have unlimited funds it's impossible to swim against the tide.

[Quickenthetempo]

That opening line, you’re a very rude person, bordering on arrogance.

Non playing staff, not interested in playing staff, that’s Dyches domain and that’s a different conversation.

The club was being run on shoestring budgets, turnover was horrendous, struggled to recruit, and when they did, many were shoehorned into roles that they had little or near no experience of. Morale was on the floor. I’ve more than one or two friends who worked there (at various levels), and these are first hand reports of their experiences. No budget sheet will give you that.

Garlick oversaw that, and green lighted many of the failed appointments. The club became a bigger business than he could manage and he rightly wanted to cash out his initial investment.

He got lucky with Judas, and then luckier with Dyche, and then cashed out. Fair play, but don’t be blinkered about the reality.

Obviously, you know about the staffing of Burnley, and with high turnover at clubs, most fans wouldn't be able to keep up.
But it seems strange you say they were understaffed because it seemed Mr Pace sacked quite a lot of staff when he came in. Did that not make it worse?

[RVclaret]

We are bound to get relegated in the next few years though, and eventually we won't come back up. All it takes is one of the promoted sides to stay up and a team that's been there a few seasons has to drop. Southampton or another side that has been there a few seasons will go this year.

Since the start of the Prem EVERY side bar the established ones (including Everton at this point) have been relegated.

Unless you have unlimited funds it's impossible to swim against the tide.

Bloody hell Spijed. Lighten up! Almost every post of yours these days is how we can't compete with anyone.

According to you we can't compete in the Prem. This season we weren't going to compete in the Championship as our defence was too young. We couldn't compete in the Championship after a few seasons.

We may as well just fold.

[ksrclaret]

Spijed is a very odd poster who spent the Dyche years looking for every little positive and refusing to acknowledge any negatives. It’s the other way around these days.

Perhaps a Goodison Park season ticket may now appeal more.

[Vegas Claret]

I was talking strictly foreign people growing up supporting Man City, not the locals.

ah ok, that's fair enough then

[Spijed]

Spijed is a very odd poster who spent the Dyche years looking for every little positive and refusing to acknowledge any negatives. It’s the other way around these days.

Perhaps a Goodison Park season ticket may now appeal more.

I wouldn't be a season ticket holder (nearly 50 years) if I wasn't happy.

[Iloveyoubrady]

I have genuinely never understood why people pretend to be so wise about the clubs finances. The whole loan situation and buy out was evidently an extremely complex arrangement. People seem to have this idea that the club has taken on debt to buy itself. While that is the simple way of making sense of it, it’s not a possible legal scenario.
I don’t pretend to know any more about the situation in which Burnley FC was bought, but I know for sure we didn’t “buy a new board” like some seem to believe.
Over the next 5-10 years the deals structure will become more obvious from club/ALK accounts but there is literally no point even trying to speculate now. We don’t have a clue.

[GodIsADeeJay81]

Obviously, you know about the staffing of Burnley, and with high turnover at clubs, most fans wouldn't be able to keep up.
But it seems strange you say they were understaffed because it seemed Mr Pace sacked quite a lot of staff when he came in. Did that not make it worse?

Under performing staff is almost like being understaffed I've found at some places I've worked.
Pot the under performers and replace them with more motivated ones with fresh ideas and results will show.

[ClaretTony]

Obviously, you know about the staffing of Burnley, and with high turnover at clubs, most fans wouldn't be able to keep up.
But it seems strange you say they were understaffed because it seemed Mr Pace sacked quite a lot of staff when he came in. Did that not make it worse?

I’ve never known a turnover of staff like we’ve witnessed at Burnley since the takeover. Four more gone or going in last couple of weeks.

[KateR]

Alan Pace ?.....A massive breath of fresh air to our club....Exciting Times.

In fairness he did tell us we'd be amazed but I never expected this outcome.