"He is beginning to understand" - Burnley FC verdict issued on Alan Pace | OneFootball

Our Clarets fan pundit has praised Pace for the way he has been running the club recently

This article is part of Football League World's 'Terrace Talk' series, which provides personal opinions from our FLW Fan Pundits regarding the latest breaking news, teams, players, managers, potential signings and more...

Burnley owner Alan Pace has been praised for his understanding of the expectations of Clarets supporters and his knowledge of the type of players that the club need to sign to be successful in both the Premier League and the Championship in the future.

American businessman Pace became Burnley's owner and chairman in late 2020, and has since overseen numerous seasons of both success and failure at Turf Moor as he continues to learn more about English football with each passing year.

Pace built his fortune in sports and financial services, and was previously the CEO and president of Major League Soccer side Real Salt Lake in his native USA, before founding ALK Capital in 2019 with the ambition to acquire a football club.

He has now been at the helm at Turf Moor for over four years, and while the club are in the Championship this season with the aim to return to the Premier League once again, he has drawn praise for the way he operates at both a business and footballing level.

Burnley FC

Pace's time in charge of the Clarets has been of varying success up to now, with a 17th-placed Premier League finish in his first half-season as owner then followed by relegation from the top-flight in 2021/22, as he made the tough decision to part ways with long-serving manager Sean Dyche.

Burnley cruised to an immediate return to the top-flight in 2022/23, as the appointment of Vincent Kompany paid dividends, but then another relegation from the Premier League followed, and he left at the start of this campaign to be replaced by Scott Parker.

Pace has once again overseen a successful season in the second tier so far, with Parker's side on track to stay in the automatic promotion race for the duration of the campaign, while some smart summer and January business means their squad is well-stacked in all areas to return to the top-flight.

Our Clarets fan pundit, Will Lancaster, thinks that Pace's attitude towards the club and its aims is 'understanding', after we asked him for one word to describe the Burnley owner.

“In terms of Alan Pace, and one word that would describe him, I’m sure you could go with many, but I think ‘understanding’ would definitely be up there," Will told FLW.

“He gets the whole small club punching above its weight mantra when we’re in the Premier League, he knows that we should be challenging for the top two when we’re in the Championship.

“He’s realistic, I think, in terms of what he demands from the club and what he expects on a playing level.

“Understanding could also mean in terms of the transfer side of things too.

“He favoured more scouting and delving into stats last time we were in the Premier League, which saw us end up with the likes of Mike Tresor instead of Nathan Tella. I think that came as a steep learning curve for the future.

“He seems to be in it for the long-term. I think ‘understanding,’ as in, understanding of where the club are, but also as in he is beginning to understand what he needs to do in the role, instead of purely analytics and that sort of stuff.”

Alan Pace has been very transparent with Burnley supporters since his arrival

More often than not, a club's owners are usually background figures that only speak publicly when they need to or are pressured into a statement, but that is not the case with Pace, who was more than happy to speak earnestly about his aims and views on matters concerning the Clarets to iNews when he first took over in 2021.

Pace said: "We found that this club was operated super well. It’s really well disciplined. It’s reinvested the proceeds from their time in the Premier League to things like the academy, rather than things like players, who get injured and end up costing you money.

"I’d love everyone to think of us as Britain’s favourite underdog. You can see how that’s easy to connect to. It’s doesn’t take a lot. We’re small market, we’re outside of Manchester, we’re not big, we’re not sexy, but it’s not hard for somebody to say, look, I don’t know who you are but I can support you when you play my arch-enemy team.

"We’ve found that diamond in the rough, sitting here in Burnley, with a great culture and community, a club operating in a way that was fairly unique."

In the years that have passed since, Pace has certainly not shirked responsibility or been afraid to face the music when a decision he has made has gone wrong, with interviews and statements aplenty, as well as a very active social media presence.

He has certainly brought more worldwide attention to the Clarets, after commissioning a Sky TV documentary on the club, 'Mission to Burnley', which covered the 2022/23 and 2023/24 campaigns at the club, as well as adding former NFL star JJ Watt to his team of investors.

Pace has continued to host regular fan forums to be consistently open and honest with supporters, and while he may have drawn criticism at times for poor recruitment, he is a breath of fresh air in English football, where clubs can be run into the ground by poor ownership, and fans are often left in the dark over struggles at boardroom level.