Burnley president Alan Pace explained that the mood around the Championship leader club is enthusiastic, but still adopting the cautiously optimistic attitude favored by the coach. Vincent Kompany.
The Clarets need just nine points from their last nine games to take the auto promotion back to the top. Premier League After a 3-1 win against Hull on Wednesday night.
With Kompany’s side currently 13 points ahead of second-placed Sheffield United and 19 points more than third-placed Middlesbrough, Pace insisted that the champagne stay clogged for the time being.
“The mood is great,” he told the PA news agency. “We’re trying to be very, very calm. Vince will kill me if we say anything else as we have more games to finish. We’re on our way, we’ll keep going.
“Look, we’re not done until we’re done, and as he said, we’re still the 21st team in the country.”
Pace, managing partner at US-based consortium ALK Capital, confirmed that if Burnley does finish the job, or more likely whenever, the club has a plan to ensure they can compete in the top flight.
Velocity Sports Partners, ALK’s sports investment arm, took over the majority shareholders of Burnley in December 2020 and acquired an 84 percent controlling stake in the club.
“I would like to say that I have a billion pounds to go to work like Chelsea. So we have to be considerate, but we will continue to be considerate throughout this process, just as we did this year,” Pace said.
The former Real Salt Lake CEO admits that as an American executive in English football, it’s challenging at times as an “outsider” struggling with attitudes like “This is English football”. That’s how it’s done, you have to admit, you just have to learn.”
This is an order that Kompany has largely come to reject, which he and Pace feel breathe new life into Turf Moor.
Pace said of Kompany: “He has an incredible work ethic and an incredible sense of humility and tremendous humility about what he sees as the right way to do things and to be able to actually take action on that path, and then he really has to communicate that and put people in one vision.” “The ability to assemble around him. He’s unbeatable.”
Kompany’s sphere of influence goes far beyond its own staff. In 2021, Burnley outlined a long-term goal to fully professionalize the women’s first-team, currently placed second in one of the two third pitch divisions.
The former Belgian international received a lot of attention and opened training sessions for all the coaching staff on the women’s team to observe and learn from him.
“The atmosphere inside the club has changed dramatically,” Pace said. “We always said we were one club for everyone but now you see people behaving like that. He has been a true advocate of spreading his knowledge more broadly to all parts of the club and has made this a very, very, warm environment.
“I firmly believe that any player (female or other) who wants help, advice, tips can get it from him at any time. I have seen nothing but complete openness and willingness to help at all levels for all types of individuals. He is a very special person.”
Pace is among a growing American property presence at the heights of English football; A roster has expanded in recent years with the addition of Chelsea’s Todd Boehly and Bournemouth’s Bill Foley in December.
When asked why American investors are increasingly interested in English football, he commented: “The undervaluation of clubs is part of that. If you don’t realize that this is the world’s greatest sport for any of them, you’re missing out.
“Most Americans like to think that this is the NFL, the pinnacle of everything, and the truth is that the number of people watching a Premier League game is 10x on a given day. So you see this and you think, ‘I want to be involved in the biggest. The best. And that’s a very American thing.