A number of eyebrows were raised when American Businessman Alan Pace took over the Clarets in late December of 2020. Many pundits have said that the way that Pace has taken over is ‘unethical’, with Simon Jordan of TALKSport being one of many to voice their concerns.
However, from the moment that Pace has taken over, there has been an incredible shift in terms of the ability to reach deeper into the domestic European market, having more funds available in hand to spend on players etc. The latter of these points was evidenced at the end of the 2020/21 season, as Maxwel Cornet put pen to paper, moving over from Lyon, whilst Dinamo Zagreb wide man Mislav Orsic was tempted by a bumper contract from his current employers at the 11th hour, and thus, didn’t join.
Pace’s good work can be seen all around the stadium, with the complete refurbishment of the executive suites and lounges, alongside all of the LED lighting in and around the stadium which brings a dated looking Turf Moor a bit closer to the 21st century.
However, in spite of all his good work there are a number of fans who don’t believe in Pace, or his team to deliver results to Burnley. In the buyout phase, £65 million was taken out as a loan, secured against club assets, which is a real stickler for Clarets fans who may not necessarily know the full story.
Upon relegation in May 2022, many fans feared the worst, being that a double relegation could be on the cards, again, pundits jumped on this bandwagon without taking any notice at all of the actual state of play. As of July ’22, the first repayment for the £65 million that was loaned from MSD Holdings LTD (Owned by Michael Dell), is for £15 million, due some time this summer. When this is taken into account, and, at the time of writing, Burnley have a net spend of -£20.6 million, this instalment, which is due to be paid alongside interest only payments until 2027, is relatively small in comparison to some of the value that we hold in players, and with fee’s potentially coming in for Maxwel Cornet and Josh Brownhill, the immediate danger of anything going wrong at Burnley is incredibly slim. Another point that has raised some Claret’s fans backs is the fact that a payday loan of £12.5 million from Macquarie Bank was taken out. This loan was solely taken to aid with cashflow with that £12.5 due from Newcastle in February 2023. One could speculate that this money was taken out to pay off Sean Dyche when he was sacked, but details of that are yet to be confirmed. Pace’s Claret’s head to Huddersfield in just under 2 weeks’ time to kick off their EFL Championship Season.