'I'm happy to be that voice': JJ Watt speaks out against refereeing decisions that have cost Burnley this season

While the club’s minority shareholder admits the Clarets simply haven’t been good enough in the Premier League, the NFL legend has suggested Vincent Kompany’s men have been harshly treated by the officials.

Burnley have received seven red cards this term, the most of any side in the top flight, with two of those coming in recent weeks – with Dara O’Shea’s straight red against Everton and Lorenz Assignon’s two yellows against Chelsea.

Watt also recently took to social media to question the decision to award Wolves a free-kick that led to their equaliser during the recent 1-1 draw at Turf Moor.

Appearing on the Pat McAfee Show, Watt says it’s time to “speak out”.

“As a small club, with some of those things you don’t have a voice necessarily, you don’t have to ability to speak up,” the 35-year-old said.

“Obviously people are careful with what they say, [but] I’m happy to be that voice because I do know what it feels like to be a fan and literally an owner in those situations where you start to see a lot of calls start to stack up in certain ways.

“Sometimes you’re wondering: ‘is it just because nobody has ever spoken up about it? Or because we’re a small club?’ Or whatever it may be.

“I’m happy to speak up about it, shine some light on it.

"There are definitely calls that go this way or that way here and there but this season it does seem oddly stacked up in a certain way, multiple times, and you start to get those official apology letters multiple times and you’re like: ‘okay, how many times do we get these letters before we take a look at this whole thing here?’.

“It’s frustrating, but at the end of the day, truthfully, we just need to play better football. That’s just a fact. We can’t put it on refereeing, we’ve just got to play better football.”

Watt recently spent some time over in England and during his spell in the UK, the Clarets enjoyed an unbeaten run with a win against Brentford and three draws.

But as soon as he returned back to the States, the Clarets lost their must-win encounter against relegation rivals Everton.

“It was a tough match,” Watt conceded.

“We definitely would have loved to have won that one, but it is what it is. That’s sport and we move on and try and improve moving forward.”

Watt also discussed his involvement in the upcoming 7-a-side ‘soccer’ tournament that Burnley are featuring in this summer in the US.

JJ and his wife Kealia will headline men’s and women’s teams that will comprise of both celebrities and former Clarets.

"We’re very excited about it,” he said.

"It’s very beneficial to me that my wife is a phenomenal soccer player. She’s getting some of her former teammates back together, so we’re very excited.

"I’m coaching/possibly playing on the men’s team...I’m not quite as confident in my own game but we do have a bunch of Burnley legends, some of our academy players playing, so it’s going to be a lot of fun.”