Burnley FC: The "Gift" That Keeps on Giving

Written: 20/09/2026

For Burnley supporters, the club feels like the gift that keeps on giving. 

The type of gift you dread receiving on Christmas.

It seems like every day a new problem arises, whether it’s an employee leaving, or the club’s increasingly complicated financial accounts; things are really starting to mount up. With the apparent lack of communication from those at the top, speculation and concern only continue to increase.

The question on everyone’s mind is quite simple: how did we get here? 

After Burnley failed to win their supposed ‘must-win’ game against Derby County, they are the only Championship side yet to win a league game. In even more damning news, MK Dons are the only other team yet to pick up three points in the league this season, in the entirety of the EFL.

Nicky Hayen’s side were quite frankly poor, and certainly not for the first time this season. Even though XG isn’t everyone’s cup of tea, Burnley only managed an XG of just 0.45. Derby County, on the contrary, achieved 1.75. The Clarets opened the scoring through Swiss International Zeki Amdouni from a set piece, on 34 minutes. A scrappy goal, but not a single Burnleyite inside Turf Moor cared. 

But it wouldn’t be a true 26/27 Burnley performance without conceding, right? Just 2 minutes from a win, that is over 220 days in the making, Mohammed Fuseini scored a beauty in front of the travelling Rams supporters. 

Apathy is the best word to describe the feeling around Turf Moor at full-time. No ferocity, no anger, just flat. This is what this run has done to supporters. 

That isn’t even a third of the problems surrounding Burnley. 

On 13th September, it was announced by Matt Scrafton that CEO James Holroyd left the club; just being there a little over a year. It came as a shock to many, as the club failed to comment on the matter. 

Just 3 days later, the i Paper reported that the reason for Holroyd’s resignation was his working relationship with Club Chairman Alan Pace, who has faced criticism from large sections of the Burnley support. 

After TurfCast shared this news, there was an eye-opening reply from former women’s player, Leah Embley:

“Shock. All for the cameras Alan Pace. So many stories of how he treats people behind closed doors, not a good look.” 

The Daily Mail further added to this story, stating that sources suggested the Burnley Chairman was “too hands-on,” adding that they were told by a former member of staff that “employees often felt they were not trusted to get on with their job.” 

The ‘hands-on’ feeling could be a similar one shared by legend Sean Dyche, on the Football Boardroom podcast back in March:

“...they started pulling pieces out. The bit of the jigsaw, they started going: ‘oh, we’re going to change this.’ 

As if this whole debacle wasn’t already bad enough, there is more that ALK and in particular Alan Pace have messed up on. Whether that’s the decision to persist with Scott Parker despite mounting concerns, bringing Hayen in too late after a whole managerial fiasco, the Finotive One disaster, insulting supporters, lack of accountability, lack of communication, or selling your best player on deadline day, with no planned replacement, this simply hasn’t been good enough on any level. 

This article would be far too long if I wrote about every single one. 

But the other concern I wish to raise is the financial situation. 

The figures in the publicly available accounts raise further questions. 

The latest accounts show that the Burnley Group are owed approximately £81 million by Velocity Capital (UK) Holdings Ltd, the club's parent company. Meanwhile, the club has around £142 million of interest-bearing external debt, with some external borrowings carrying interest rates of up to 12%. 

As well as those figures, £9.5 million in management fees has been paid to an affiliated entity across the four years covered. The fee jumped from £1.5 million in 23/24 to £4 million in 24/25. Who exactly is this affiliated entity, and why did it jump a decent amount in such a short space of time? 

Credit should also be given to Stories From The Smoke, via X (https://x.com/StoriesOfSmoke), for sourcing this information.

To be clear, I am not suggesting that any wrongdoing has taken place. There may be entirely legitimate explanations for these figures. But from a supporter’s perspective, they raise questions and without clear communication from the club, it is difficult to know what conclusions, if any, should be drawn from them. 

I approached Burnley chairman Alan Pace directly for comment on the financial information mentioned in this article, having previously been encouraged by him, personally, to contact the club with any questions I had.

Pace was given five days to respond to the points raised. At the time of publication, I had received no response.

Well, that is that so far.

As I mentioned prior, there are simply so many issues at the club that it would be impossible to write it all. 

The Clarets now have a 3-week international break to work and improve, ready for Watford on 10th October at Vicarage Road.