My scary helicopter ride with Giggs and Neville...
BY BURNLEY CO-OWNER BRENDAN FLOOD
BRENDAN FLOOD is in a helicopter next to Gary Neville and Ryan Giggs, who have turned white as a sheet. It is January 2011 and Burnley’s co- owner and director Flood, a property development specialist, has hired a helicopter and picked up the pair in Neville’s back garden to fly to a business opportunity in Gleneagles.
It’s blowing a gale and it starts snowing. The trio are bumping up and down, rocking from side to side and they are silent.
‘All I could think as I saw the ground heading closer was, “I’m going to die anonymously here”,’ Flood recalls. ‘Tomorrow’s headlines will be, “Giggs and Neville die in helicopter crash with some other bloke”.
‘We get out of the helicopter and the first thing Gary says is, “We’re getting the train home”.’
But Flood, 55, was not consigned to a footnote and he’s just seen his team move up to sixth in the Premier League table.
That rise came before the international break with victory at Everton, courtesy of a Jeff Hendrick strike at the end of a 24- pass move — the most of any Burnley goal in the Premier League.
Burnley are British- owned, British-managed and the core of their squad is British. All the directors are Burnley supporters. Manager Sean Dyche is not local but has been ‘Burnley-fied’.
‘We keep our identity and that’s precious to us,’ Flood says. ‘We’re not fashionable but we’ve got used to that.’
Dyche, 46, is becoming a soughtafter manager — one of the rare British successes in the Premier League working under considerable financial constraints.
Taking seven points from games at Chelsea, Tottenham and Everton has only increased the attention. ‘Every club wants a manager who is attractive to other clubs because it is a sign of success,’ Flood says. ‘Sean is very settled. Managers underestimate the importance of being a good fit. They move for more remuneration as it’s a short career. Sean is a particularly good fit for Burnley and how easily could he replicate that elsewhere?’
Burnley have no debt. When they came up in 2014, they invested the extra revenue in the stadium and a new £11million training ground.
Is it tough to maintain their stringent approach when Romelu Lukaku goes to Manchester United for £75m? ‘It’s an ethos we don’t buy into,’ Flood says.
‘If our board was in charge of United, we would have to understand what the return is when investing in a player. We’re always looking for a return, typically three times the cost.’
They signed Michael Keane from United for £2m in 2015 and sold the centre back to Everton for £30m. ‘Any transfer revenues will be reinvested in new talent. They come to Burnley, develop their careers and, in time, when they want to be at one of the top clubs, that’s when we have to be honest about what we’re able pay them. If you look at the demographic of our fans, they either attended the Leyton Orient game in 1987 when we nearly went out of the Football League, or they’re a child of the dad who was at the match, so they’ve heard the stories of it.
‘They have the sense of recent historic failure. You just have to see Oldham and Swindon and Portsmouth to understand that success is temporary.’ Flood’s fascination with football business led him to set up the world’s first university of football. Away from matchdays, the corporate boxes transform into classrooms. Would Flood tell the students that Lukaku is worth the investment?
‘What is any player worth? If he can win a match and consistently deliver three points, that’s worth money to you. That’s a calculation you can predict.
‘We wouldn’t pay fees beyond £15m for any player unless he’s an outstanding talent and a winner.’
On that basis, would he have paid more than £15m for Giggs or Neville? ‘Ryan on his day, maybe,’ he says, laughing. Not Neville? ‘ Definitely not Gary — he’s a full back!’