Alan knows Burnley is unique. He’s got great ambitions for the club with Dyche at the helm ALASTAIR CAMPBELL
WHEN Alastair Campbell started watching Burnley, the Clarets were champions of England.
That same season he was one of the 45,000 souls who packed into Turf Moor as crack French club Reims were beaten 2-0 in the European Cup on the way to the quarter-finals.
Campbell, 63, was too young to remember the goals by Jimmy Robson and Jimmy McIlroy – or the rest of Harry Potts’ legendary Class of 1960.
But after American investment group ALK Capital completed a £200million takeover of the Lancashire club during the week, he feels the future can at least go some way to mirroring Burnley’s glorious past.
Campbell developed a reputation for not suffering fools during a decade spent working at the heart of government, including more than three years as Prime Minister Tony Blair’s spin doctor.
Burnley fans will be relieved to hear that his take on new Clarets chairman Alan Pace was a positive one – after he had taken to his Twitter account to warn that a rival bid might undo the work done by major shareholder Mike Garlick (right) and manager Sean Dyche over the past eight years.
Campbell said: “If the club had to be taken over – and I accept the buyout was needed if Burnley are going to continue to grow – then it had to be ALK Capital.
“I had so many Charlton Athletic fans warning me that Mike Garlick shouldn’t touch the other bid with a barge pole because of the experience they had gone through with that same group.
“I’ve got to know
Alan Pace a little bit since he made his interest public – and my feeling is that he’s a
AMERICAN investment group ALK Capital have bought an 84 per cent stake in the club.
ALK managing director Alan Pace has replaced Mike Garlick as chairman at Turf Moor.
However, Garlick – who sold his near 50 per cent stake in the club – and fellow former shareholder John Banaszkiewicz will remain as directors.
Pace, 53, brings 20 years in the genuine guy with serious ambitions for our club. One of the great strengths Burnley always had was a board of directors who were also supporters.
“It’s clear that Alan Pace and his team have undertaken an enormous amount of work to get to understand the club, the fans and the town. “Not only have they studied the club deeply from a business perspective, they financial services industry and more than a decade of sports management experience to Burnley.
A dual British-American national, he was formally a managing director and global head of sales for securities services at Citi, heading up a multibillion-dollar division.
Pace is a former partner at SCP Worldwide LLC – owner of sports, entertainment and media properties – have also looked at what it means to the people who have invested a big part of their lives supporting it.
“Alan is going to move into the area, which is very important because he will now become part of that community – and it shows how committed he is.
“I think Alan appreciates that Burnley is unique. I know all fans say that about their club, but for such a small town to have an established Premier League club really is something quite special. He also clearly and a previous CEO of Major League Soccer franchise Real Salt Lake, where he oversaw the transformation of a consistently last-place team to winning the 2009 MLS Cup.
The acquisition of a majority stake in Burnley builds on ALK Capital’s recent entry into the European sports market with two strategic investments in London-based football technology businesses AiScout and Player LENS.