"Would be my only gripe" - Concern raised with part of Burnley FC ownership strategy | OneFootball

FLW's Burnley fan pundit has issued his one demand for the current ownership

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 have made a promising start to life back in the Championship after their relegation from the Premier League last season.

Scott Parker has been appointed by the owners to bring the club straight back to the top flight at the first time of asking.

The Clarets are currently third in the table after nine games, just one point behind leaders Sunderland.

Alan Pace became the owner and chairman of the Lancashire outfit in 2020, with former American footballer JJ Watt joining as a minority investor in 2023.

They will be hoping that Parker can bring the team back to the Premier League, but face stiff competition already from the likes of Sunderland, Sheffield United, Leeds United and West Brom.

Burnley ownership demand made

When asked what demand he had of the club’s ownership, FLW’s Burnley fan pundit Nathan Rogers claimed that a greater focus on the local supporters is needed.

While he understands the desire to grow the brand across the world, he feels that the local fans have been lost in the shuffle a bit too much in the search for more support from overseas.

“I don’t really have any demands for the new ownership, to be fair, they’ve put their money where their mouth is, and replaced those we’ve had to sell to balance the books,” Rogers told Football League World.

“They appointed a pretty solid manager for the division.

“Footballing-wise, they seem to be doing okay.

“They’ve made really good decisions on and off the pitch in terms of staffing recruitment and stuff, commercially they’ve done a decent job.

“The only thing I would say about the ownership is I’d ask them to maybe look a bit closer to home in terms of messaging, and how they communicate with the fans.

“I think it’s easy to neglect the local fans quite a lot now, if anything there’s a focus on the overseas fans, which is all well and good and I’ve no bother against that.

“They’ve been asked to put Burnley on the map further afield and get more overseas fans.

“But it does feel like everything that comes out, whether it’s membership, ticket option, it all seems to favour the overseas fans and the walk-on fans, and the legacy fans seem to get left behind a bit, and not really looked after for their loyalty, and rewarded for that.

“That would be my only gripe against it, but everything else they’ve done a pretty okay job, so something to keep an eye on.”

Burnley’s start to the new Championship season

Burnley fell out of the automatic promotion places right before the current international break due to a 0-0 draw at home to Preston North End.

The Clarets have won five, drawn three and lost just one of their opening nine fixtures to earn 18 points from a possible 27.

Parker’s side will be hoping to get back to winning ways when they return to action later this month.

Next up for Burnley is a trip to face Sheffield Wednesday on 19 October.

Growing the Burnley brand has been a big investment

The new Burnley owners have done a lot of work to try and build a new image of the club that can attract supporters from across the world.

Vincent Kompany was a huge change in direction as manager from Sean Dyche, who was in charge for a decade before leaving in April 2022.

The team was also followed as part of a big documentary during Kompany’s first campaign, which came with a lot of great exposure for the club.

But local supporters shouldn’t be forgotten about in this push to grow the brand, as it can be easy to take their loyalty for granted in the pursuit of attracting in more people from elsewhere.