US based company ALK Capital has completed its takeover of Premier League club Burnley.
ALK Capital, who currently reside in Delaware, have acquired an 84% stake in the Clarets, costing around £200m, according to TalkSPORT.
ALK Capital managing partner Alan Pace is set to replace Mike Garlick as chairman of Burnley. However, Garlick will stay at Turf Moor as part of the club’s board, as confirmed in a statement by the company.
“Garlick, alongside former shareholder John Banaszkiewicz, will remain on ALK Capital’s new board of directors at Burnley, ensuring a smooth transition to new ownership and providing valuable knowledge from his eight-year tenure as club chairman,” the statement read, as quoted by the Guardian.
During Garlick’s time as Burnley chairman, the Clarets have achieved relative success, playing six seasons of Premier League football, as well as reaching the Europa League qualifiers in 2018.
Garlick has assured fans that the takeover was completed with the club’s best interests at heart.
“This investment represents a natural progression for Burnley Football Club. My tenure as chairman has always been about ensuring Burnley is a sustainable football club, and this investment provides a long-term plan to maintain that philosophy, whilst driving evolution and innovation,” he said, via the club’s official Twitter account.
Back in August, Garlick had an estimated net worth of about £62m – the lowest of every owner in the Premier League. The next lowest was Sheffield United’s Prince Abdullah bin Musa’ed, who is believed to be worth over three times more than Garlick.
The takeover should see an increase in manager Sean Dyche’s transfer budget. In the last two transfer windows, Burnley have spent under £10m, bringing in just Josh Brownhill, Dale Stephens, and Will Norris. ALK Capital’s takeover comes just in time for the January transfer window.
Dyche’s squad currently contains only four players from outside the UK and Ireland, those being Chris Wood, Johann Berg Gudmundsson, Erik Pieters, and Matej Vydra. The takeover is likely to introduce a wider scouting network for the Lancashire side. ALK Capital recently invested in two London-based football data analysis companies: AiScout and Player LENS.
Add Sportslens to your Google News Feed!
