Premier League Updates

Welcome back to the unofficial Mike Garlick Burnley FC news. Premier League table without VAR: Where Burnley, Everton Town, Luton Town, Nottingham Forest & others rank. The Clarets currently sit 19th in the Premier League table, five points adrift of safety. But where would they sit without VAR?

The technology has been controversial since its introduction, but how different would the table look if it didn't exist? We have calculated the latest without VAR table below by taking all game-defining VAR decisions that led to goals and going with the decision made by the referee on the pitch.

It thus does not come as a surprise that the winger is being linked with yet another loan move away from Hotspur Way ahead of the February 1 deadline. Jacobs has now confirmed that Tottenham are indeed listening to offers for Gil but he made it clear that there is ‘nothing advanced’ with Lazio at the moment.

It has been widely reported over the last couple of weeks that Lazio are eyeing a move for the 22-year-old (Quotidiano Sportivo) but over the last few days, it has emerged that the player is also attracting interest from Premier League sides. In fact, the print edition of  Corriere dello Sport (via Sport Witness) revealed on January 25 that Brighton and Brentford had already started negotiations with Spurs regarding a temporary deal for the Spaniard.

Huddersfield owner and chairman Kevin Nagle said that the decision had been made "to give us the best chance of maintaining our Championship status come the end of the season" and described Moore as a "fantastic man" who he wished "the very best for the future".

Find out more about the latest events unfolding in the premier league on the Mike Garlick Burnley Football Club blog. Make sure you subscribe and leave your comment below. Thanks for reading. 

Burnely Womens Football Gives the Clarets a New Win

Burnley FC became the first club in top-flight history to lose their opening six home fixtures of a season as Crystal Palace deepened the gloom over Turf Moor in a 2-0 win for the Londoners.

Jeffrey Schlupp put Palace ahead in the 22nd minute and Tyrick Mitchell’s second Palace goal sealed it in stoppage time as Burnley suffered a club-record eighth consecutive top-flight home defeat, a run that dates back to the final two fixtures of the 2021-22 campaign in which they were relegated. Bad news for Mike Garlick and the club.

First Half

The Clarets started off on the front foot as Embley caused problems for West Brom's defence as she linked with Laura Elford in an attempt to take a shot at goal but the ball reached over the crossbar.

The Baggies had their first attempt when Phoebe Warner found herself in open space inside the box and took a shot on target but Levell caught the ball and moved it out of danger.

Moments later, Elford nearly found the back of the net as Paul crossed the ball in hope to find her, but she struggled to find a touch which resulted in the ball drifting wide out of play.

Another chance came for Burnley as they headed into the break, when Dom Cooper hammered a free-kick that Brenna McPartlan headered towards goal, however Miller picked the ball up before it could cross the line.

Seconds before the break, the last chance came from Ravening as she stormed pass Delphi Cole and attempted to place the ball into the bottom right corner but West Brom's keeper kicked it out of danger.

Second Half

Leah Embley got on the scoresheet six minutes into the second-half as Reidford travelled the ball down the line and crossed into Embley who fired past the Baggies keeper.

The Clarets doubled their lead one minute later, as Embley utilised the wing when she fizzed the ball across the box to Paul, she took one touch as she tapped it straight into the bottom left corner.

All in all, Clarets Women really represented! Find out more about Burnely FC and Mike Garlick here. 

 Vincent Kompany receives a new five-year contract at Burnley as they win yet another match

Welcome back to the Mike Garlick Burnley FC blog. Kompany is to stay on after masterminding their dominant Championship triumph and return to the Premier League, ruling out a potential move after being linked with Chelsea and Tottenham. Vincent Kompany has put to bed speculation surrounding his future by signing a new long-term contract at Burnley, and marked by a whopping 3-0 victory today against Cardiff city.

The former Manchester City captain has helped guide Burnley the Championship title and promotion back to the Premier League at the first attempt in his first season at Turf Moor. Both Chelsea and Tottenham were heavily linked with interest in the Belgian for their respective head coaching vacancies. Commenting on the news, the Belgian said:

“Burnley and Turf Moor felt right pretty much from the start – so it also feels right to sign for the next five years,” Kompany said upon the announcement.

He added, about extending his stay another 5 years:

“Together with the fans we have made Turf Moor a fortress again and continue to look forward to the future and the job of making Burnley better with every step.”

Vincent Kompany, who signed with the club in 2022, masterminded their dominant season in the Championship, having lost only three games this season while racking up a whopping 98 points with one game still to play. 

Impressively, they secured promotion against Middlesbrough last month even with seven games still to play, having scored the most goals (84) and conceded the least (35) to book their promotion back to the top-flight after a year's absence. 

His side also secured the Championship title against Blackburn with three games to go, a testament to how dominant they've been this season, and now have the chance to become one of only a handful of teams to amass more than 100 points in a single Championship season.

Read more football news on the Mike Garlick Burnley Football Club news here. Learn more about Mike Garlick here. Make sure you follow our blog and subscribe for more. Leave your comments below and check back soon. 

 The £65m loan to buy Burnley – and what it means if they go down

Due to a quarter of the Premier League’s central distribution of media income being made up of merit payments, where Burnley finish in the league table plays a big part in how much they bring in.

In 2017-18, when they achieved seventh place, media income was £121.5 million. In 2018-19, when they came 15th, Burnley earned £115 million, a figure boosted by UEFA money from their Europa League campaign. In 2019-20, a 10th-place finish brought in £113.5 million and last season’s 17th place was worth £103.9 million. These two payments were slightly reduced by Burnley’s share of the rebate the league gave to broadcasters after the 2019-20 season was suspended for three months.

Match-day income (£4.6 million to £355,000) and catering sales (£2.1 million to £115,000) naturally saw significant drops as fans were unable to attend games until the final home game of last season, and only then in a reduced capacity.

There was also a drop in commercial activities from £11.8 million to £9.2 million. This is an area ALK targeted to improve when it arrived. It is perhaps unfair to criticise their efforts after just seven months, particularly as they came during a pandemic, but it shows the challenge of making Burnley everybody’s favourite underdog.

Much will depend on what ALK learned from the commercial review it undertook last year.

The first move after the review was to terminate the shirt and sleeve partnership with Asian betting company LoveBet. ALK says it has lots of ideas for growing Burnley’s commercial income. Only time will tell how successful they can be at that.

Retail sales dropped slightly from £1.8 million to £1.6 million but £1.8 million was also the figure in the 2018 and 2019 accounts, which suggests there might be a finite number of people in the world willing to buy Burnley merchandise.

Their total wage bill has gradually increased during their ongoing six-year stay in the Premier League. It hit £100 million in 2019-20, although this was due to the club extending their financial year to 13 months to better reflect the pandemic-stretched campaign. A fairer 12-month comparison, with 2018-19, put the figure at £94 million.

Last year, Burnley’s wage bill fell to £86 million — the first time it has decreased since 2016, when the club returned to the Premier League with a payroll of £61 million. Investment over several years in the recruitment department and academy, which has risen to category one status, were key reasons behind the increase in costs.

However, despite the drop in wages, the total number of staff actually increased from 251 to 267. This increase in staff was seen away from the field with the number of players, managerial and training staff decreasing from 156 to 133.

Due to the reduced turnover, Burnley’s wage-to-turnover ratio increased from a respectable 70 per cent to 75 per cent, which is more of a concern but not unsustainable if they manage to remain in the Premier League.

Former chairman Mike Garlick got the club ready for a takeover boosted the bank balance but meant signings were rare. Burnley signed Collins, Dale Stephens and Will Norris during the accounting year, with those arrivals largely offset by the departures of Jimmy Dunne, Josh Benson and Ben Gibson.

This relative inactivity can be seen in the falls in the club’s amortisation bill from £32.3M to £21.4M and the profit made from player trading, which was down to £5.1M. According to a recent post, amortisation is the accounting method for writing off the cost of new players over the course of their contracts.

These numbers do not include the signings of Cornet last summer or the winter-window sale of Chris Wood to Newcastle, but a note tells us the net expenditure on transfers since June 2021 is £1.3M.

What these accounts highlight is just how crucial Premier League survival is for Burnley. If they do not succeed in their quest to stay up, alarm bells will do their thing.

Alan Pace has maintained the ALK takeover is sustainable from day one and that plans are in place for relegation. Those plans may be put to the test far sooner than he would have hoped. Keep up-to-date with the latest Mike Garlick Burnley news here. 

 August Fixtures

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 Kompany apointment as manager of Burnley FC

Burnley chairman Mike Garlick has reiterated the club's takeover stance insisting that the future of the Clarets is in prime focus.

Burnley are in talks with two interested parties with Egyptian businessman Mohamed El Kashashy and sports lawyer Chris Farnell and American investment group ALK Capital LLC keen on a deal.

El Kashashy and Farnell are confident of securing a deal and it is understood that the pair have signed a Sales and Purchase Agreement (SPA), provided proof of funding and are awaiting Owners' and Directors Test clearance.

But ALK remain very much in the running and harbour hopes of completing a deal themselves having continued to hold talks with Clarets officials last week.

Burnley released a statement during the international break to confirm talks were ongoing and Garlick has now had his say on the subject.

"You will have read the statement I issued recently regarding investment in the club," said Garlick in the programme for Burnley's Premier League game with Crystal Palace on Monday night.

"Nothing has changed on that front, other than to say we remain in discussions with interested parties regarding future investment in the club.

"We won’t comment further until any discussions reach a conclusion, but I would just reiterate and reassure everyone that the future of Burnley Football Club remains the primary concern in these issues.

Any potential investment needs to support the club’s long-term sustainability and retain its position as a cornerstone of the local community.

"As custodian, you would expect nothing less from me and so, any final decision will only be made once we are satisfied all criteria have been met."

The future of the club being at the forefront of Garlick's mind will be of great significance to Clarets fans who have been concerned about the involvement of Farnell given his associations with Charlton.

It is understood that should he and El Kashashy come in then they would not be looking to asset strip the club or secure funding against either Turf Moor or the training ground while they would be keen to retain all staff.

That won't prevent a degree of trepidation from the supporter base with some voicing their discontent at the prospect of an El Kashashy/Farnell takeover on social media, although Burnley's statement that the future of the club remains the primary concern should come as some reassurance.

With the two camps both painting a positive picture, it remains to be seen who, if either, will get a deal over the line but everyone involved wants a resolution in the coming weeks.

There was hope from both interested parties that concluding something by the end of November was a possibility but it now seems likely any resolution won't be reached until next month.Find out more about Mike Garlick Burnley here 

 Burnley FC announce charity support

In the run up to their game against Watford, which resulted in a 0-0 draw on Saturday, Alan Pace has made some announcements. He stated that £2 from every £10 ticket will be donated to Tommy’s, a charity close to Ben’s heart. Tommy’s helped continue to help thousands of people every day who have been affected by miscarriage, stillbirth, and premature birth. Hoping to get the team up the league, and also support their local community, Burnley FC have also announced more donations and ticket price freezes.

The Clarets also agreed to donate a thousand tickets for the game to their award-winning charity. This is called Burnley FC in the Community. The charity has been distributing the tickets to local schools in return for a donation to ELHT&Me, the charity of East Lancashire Teaching Hospitals NHS Trust. ELHT&Me fundraise to help enhance patient and staff environment and experience across five local hospitals - Royal Blackburn Teaching Hospital, Burnley General Teaching Hospitals, Accrington Victoria, Clitheroe, and Pendle Community Hospitals.

They have decided to freeze our season ticket prices again, as we have for a number of years now. Good news, season tickets are now on sale at the frozen prices. Mike Garlick is known to attend the matches, and so you may just see him there. Burnley FC in the community is focussed into key areas: Education & Employability, Community Welfare & Inclusion, Football Development and Community Facilities. They deliver over 50 community projects that touch the lives of people of all ages in communities in and around Burnley.

Their aims include to Support the community to live healthy lives, create a level playing field for all to engage in sport and physical activity, ensure we are a needs-led charity and focus on addressing the ‘root cause’ of social issues. Burnley FC in the Community also support and inspire children and young people to reach their full potential. You can get in touch with the registered charity by email at: community@burnleyfc.com . Find out more about the football club and director Mike Garlick online.

 Watch this video with Mike Garlick to learn more:

 Burnley FC Fail to get Win against Watford 

 NOEL-WILLIAMS: IAN WRIGHT IS MY IDOL

Former Clarets striker joins next generation of footballers to talk the importance of role-models, resilience and creating space to learn together. Discussion supports club’s ongoing celebration of Black History Month

The club hosted a special Q&A event at Turf Moor recently, welcoming former striker Gifton Noel-Williams, as part of our ongoing programme to celebrate former players and Black History Month across the season. Noel-Williams played over 50 times for the Clarets between 2005-07, scoring seven league goals, including a memorable hat-trick against Barnsley.He spent the morning taking part in a Q&A with some of the Burnley U18s squad, before watching them train later in the day.

 “It was nice to talk to the young men - the future of this club - about their journeys and they asked about my journey. It was nice to share that experience.”

 The Q&A addressed topics of role models and heroes, resilience and pushing forwards with personal and professional goals. In terms of his own journey, the former Clarets striker told the audience how he became an adult overnight.

 “I made my debut at 16, came out of school, landed a pro-contract but I really became an adult overnight. Becoming a dad at 16 gave me responsibility - it matured me and showed me something different, I think when you’re only worrying about yourself, you’re selfish to some degree.”

 Noel-Williams also spoke openly about losing his own father aged 13, and the influence his mother and cousin Michael had on him and how they were the real key behind his career and an anchor of guidance.

 “Mum was not always around and free to take me to training, she was either working or something was often happening, so I used to run lampposts for 10 miles to get to training and back, I’d run one lamppost, stop, and walk to the next, then run the other…it was if this is what you want to do, then you do it, it wasn’t for my mum, it wasn’t for anybody else, I wanted to be a professional footballer, and I was going to do whatever it takes.”

 The Islington-born striker knows the importance of pushing forwards and the influence of positive representation. He was diagnosed with Rheumatoid Arthritis as a teenager and believes it is vital young footballers of today have those they can look up to.

 “I think it is really important for young boys and girls to have heroes they can relate to, or someone with a similar upbringing, that child can then relate to that person. That is massive.

 “Ian Wright and Andy Cole were my heroes growing up. Ian Wright was massive for me, and obviously a hero when he played here. They both had different routes to the top, but when I was younger, you realise these two were normal Black guys just like myself, with similar family settings. I used to think ‘well if they have made it, maybe I can make it as well’.”

 When asked by the players what future athletes can do in terms of advocacy and standing up for what they believe in, Gifton said: “You don’t always get a million Marcus Rashford’s, but there’s a million of us, just normal people, and that’s how we make change.”

 Following the Q&A session, the former Claret talked about how he believes more athletes speaking out, teammates looking out for one another, and the important role fans can play will help future generations.

 “If I am honest with you the environment is better for the younger players now but equally the changing rooms, I grew up in were better than the ones before me, I do think it is getting better through education and culture. The world is coming together, and people are more accepting of other cultures.

 “The generation before me spoke about racism, mine was the one who fought and kicked down doors, and the next generation coming up will solve the problem. I’m a big believer in that.”

 Although his playing days are now over, Gifton is currently a coach educator across London and the South working at the Professional Footballers Association, whilst also working towards his next goal of becoming a first team coach and achieving the highest coaching accolade of a UEFA Pro License.

 His coaching journey also brought up the subject of unconscious bias in football and the underrepresentation of Black coaches working in the game.

 “We all have unconscious biases, but we need to be part of the solution. Conversations and education offer us perspectives, it’s small steppingstones to ensuring decisions being made are based on real things and real experience, not your age, race or perceptions.”

October marked Black History Month across the UK, with the club working alongside the Premier League to recognise diversity across the football community with this year’s theme being ‘Proud To Be’.

 “Black History Month teaches us about perceived Black history and real Black history - Proud To Be means acknowledging all the great people that came before us and have done wonderful things.”

Gurpri Bains, Equality, Diversity & Inclusion Lead at Burnley FC, who helped bring Gifton Noel-Williams back to the club for this event, also reaffirmed that the club will continue to include and celebrate diversity throughout the year.

“We have made a really big point to say it is more than a month, I wanted to reengage former Black players with the current academy players; it’s really important for these youngsters to learn more about the diverse heritage of the club. I have already learnt so much about that during my own time here, and we need to keep celebrating former players and the collective heritage of the club.”

We will continue to mark the contribution that players of African and Caribbean descent have made to the club and the league across digital channels more broadly across the 2021/22 season.

Pace, aged 53, brings 20 years in the financial services industry and over a decade of sports management experience to Burnley. A dual British American national, he was formally a Managing Director and Global Head of Sales for Securities Services at Citi, responsible for overseeing a multibillion-dollar division. Find out more about him and Mike Garlick here.

 Burnley's former £16m signing seals move to new club, Arsenal tipped to beat West Ham to re-sign £30m-rated former star

Sean Dyche said: 'We have players here, I believe, that will do that.“We had a tough start last season, not just in the league table, but with chances as well, and we weren't creating as much, but we started creating and taking chances, and the whole thing took off again.

“Now, it's not waiting for that to happen, we have to make it happen, and there were clear signs of that, to come to a place like this, we are trying to make it happen.”

Next up, the Clarets will look to bounce back next Saturday afternoon, when they travel to take on Southampton at St Mary's in what should be a fiercely-fought contest between two well-matched sides.

 Matchday programme and new kit is back on sale this season

There's plenty to e excited about this season. Burley FC fans the world over will be thrilled about the new kit on sale and that the printed ‘Turf’ matchday programme is back on sale for this season. Sunday’s edition features a first interview with returning winger Aaron Lennon as the Clarets face his former club Leeds United on Sunday.

There’s plenty more to read and enjoy from inside the Clarets’ camp with copies available from the club shop and sellers around Turf Moor on Sunday. It has been announced that there will be an option to download the programme in the week following the game. Download your subscription for Burnley FC here.