Burnley chief Antonio Dávila has insisted the club remain focused on the societal impact that they can have.
AS cover comments from Dávila today after he appeared at a ‘colloquium’ titled ‘Football Club Ownership Models’. During this even, held in Catalonia, he discussed Burnley and Velocity Sports Partners’ ownership of them and Espanyol.
Alan Pace’s company completed a takeover of the Spanish club earlier this year. They now own both them and Burnley and plan to run a multi-club model moving forwards.
Pace has been vocal about his plans from day one, determined to make it clear that Burnley and Espanyol will always be separate clubs with their own identities.
It seems they both will always have one focus, though, and that is on the societal impact they can have. That’s at least according to Dávila.
“Our investors aren’t funds, they’re individuals,” he said.
“So, they’re not just driven by financial considerations, but also heavily influenced by the impact that both Burnley and Espanyol can have on society.
“They’re people who own their own businesses, with extensive experience, so they contribute a great deal of their business management knowledge.”
That focus on the group being individual investors rather than say, a corporation without a face, is very important to Dávila.
He again stressed that it allowed the club’s, Burnley and now Espanyol, to maintain their identities. And he thinks the perfect example of this is the foundation at Burnley, which they continue to support.
“At Burnley, we have a foundation, I believe the most important in the city,” he added.
“It works incredibly hard and is dedicated solely to the community, integrating children with social problems. It runs the largest food bank in Burnley… It’s very important to us, and we work to maintain it and ensure its continued growth.”
