Burnley owner Alan Pace considers club sale amid cash crisis - Keith Wyness

Burnley owner Alan Pace may consider selling Spanish club Espanyol to address the Championship side's £86m debt crisis, according to former Everton CEO Keith Wyness.

Burnley's financial troubles have deepened despite cutting debt to £86 million, with owner Alan Pace potentially facing difficult decisions to stabilize the club. Keith Wyness, former Everton chief executive, believes Pace may need to sell Espanyol, the Spanish club he also owns, to help repair cash flow at the Lancashire outfit.

The situation stems from Pace's 2021 leveraged buyout of Burnley, which left the club saddled with significant debt from the start—a structure Wyness compared to the Glazer family's takeover of Manchester United in 2005. Velocity Capital, Pace's company that officially owns Burnley, recently faced a striking-off order due to delayed accounts, though this has since been discontinued.

Wyness, who now runs a football consultancy advising elite clubs, warned that Burnley's issues represent a broader financial crisis rather than a simple sporting problem. He also criticized Pace's handling of a failed sponsorship deal with Finotive One, which lasted just 42 days before the club switched to Vertu for an emergency agreement.