Burnley chairman Alan Pace says club owners should be held accountable for their actions – but says many fans only care how much is spent on new players until disaster strikes.

His company, American investment group ALK Capital, bought an 84% stake in the Premier League club on 31 December, 2020.

Since then, local rivals Wigan have battled their way through administration and two-time league champions Derby are now in a similar situation amid huge losses and spiralling debts.

That has reinforced the call for an independent regulator, which seems certain to emerge from the Government’s fan-led review that is chaired by former Sports Minister Tracey Crouch.

Pace is uncertain about whether that outcome will be right for the game.

“I am not sure we always think through what we are doing,” he said.

“Accountability and responsibility lie together. Even with a review, it is about what you want football to look like and what do you want ownership to look like.

“Take the time to work through it rather than say ‘this is what we are going to do’.

“I feel very strongly that, if you get the kind of opportunity we have, you have a responsibility to be held accountable for delivering on what you said you were going to do. This isn’t just a play thing, it isn’t just a toy. It has to be here when you are done with it.

“But I don’t believe everybody feels that way or that most fans expect that because all they care about is what you spend, then get upset when somebody overspends.

“Think about your own kids. If you told them to spend as much as possible so they had a good vacation and they came home and said ‘I don’t have any money to buy food’, would you be upset with them?

“You told them to have a great vacation and they borrowed the money on their credit card to do it.”

‘A sense of fairness’

Pace confirmed there was no obligation for fans to sell their shares. He said from initial soundings and social media posts, the estimation was that an interest level in doing so existed that was ‘greater than 50%’.

ALK was criticised at the time of the takeover for not making an offer to all shareholders, rather than just former chairman Mike Garlick and director John Banaszkiewicz, who owned the majority of the club.

It was later confirmed ALK had taken on loans through Michael Dell’s MSD company, one of the major creditors at Derby, to complete the deal.

Pace says funds for this purchase will come out of existing capital.

He added there would be an opportunity to sell shares after his 21-day deadline period through a mechanism he was setting up, although ALK would not be involved in it.

“It won’t be us doing the purchasing,” added Pace. “It will be amongst the shareholders themselves or other buyers.

“There is no guarantee and there is no intent on our part to come back in and buy more shares. We are doing this out of a sense of fairness.”

‘It is super important to have stability’

In the week Watford made Xisco Munoz the first Premier League managerial casualty of the season, Burnley are four points behind the Hornets, with only three draws to show from their opening seven games.

Last month, manager Sean Dyche, already the longest-serving manager at a top-flight club, signed a four-year extension.

Remarkably, Dyche was the first manager axed by Watford’s Italian owners in June 2012. Including new boss Claudio Ranieri, the Hornets have had 12 managers in the time Dyche has been at Turf Moor.

“It is super important to have stability,” said Pace.

“It is a double-edged sword. Stability allows for a lot of planning. At the same time, there needs to be accountability for performance, which lies with all of us. If any one of us doesn’t do what is expected in our jobs, we can all lose them.”