Burnley chief Alan Pace explains benefits of Dundee link-up, future plans & stance on previous partnerships

The “strategic alliance” with Football Partners Scotland, Dundee’s majority owners, will promote player development between the two clubs.

Both clubs have also pledged to work together on shared initiatives to support local communities.

Having previously been linked with a potential takeover of Belgian side K.V. Kortrijk, Pace admits the Clarets could now look to forge partnerships further afield.

“We’re always on the lookout for things that we feel will add value to both clubs, but it really has to be organic and thoughtful and authentic,” Burnley’s chairman told BBC Radio Lancashire.

“It’s not something we just do for commercial reasons or because it’s really nice to be like everybody else.

“It usually takes us a little while longer than most people to come around to ‘hey, this would actually work for the both of us’, but we’re always talking and thinking and we especially like some of the other leagues in Europe where we feel there’s still more for us to talk about.

“We’ve had some ongoing discussions, so I would expect this not to be the last you will hear of us doing.”

The relationship with Dundee has already seen the likes of Dara Costelloe and Owen Dodgson seal loan moves to Dens Park.

Marcel Lewis, meanwhile, spent the first half of the season with Tony Docherty’s side.

Pace, who will be attending Dundee’s game against Livingston this weekend, explained why the Dark Blues are the ideal partners.

“One is location,” he said.

“It’s near enough that we can get the train from around where we are and be up there in just a couple of hours, so it’s not that difficult for both us and our players if we’re moving back and forth, as well as our staff.

“But we also love Scotland. We love the football that is being played up there and we believe there is more to come from that, so we’re really excited to be participating on a much more close basis.”

Aside from loan deals for some of Burnley’s best up-and-coming talent, Pace also explained some of the other benefits this partnership could provide.

“There are probably a number of things from a knowledge share, things like what different clubs do within their communities, things they’ve had success with, maybe in ticketing, promotions or in operating,” he added.“We’ve certainly seen as we’ve looked across Europe there’s been a significant demand for English groundskeepers to keep a pitch in really good nick and we think there’s things like that we can provide.

“There’s probably things on the other side as we dig in with some of these clubs where they can help us. Maybe it’s commercially, maybe it’s social media, maybe it’s other things.

“But the player side is our primary focus and making sure we are actually developing players and giving them the chance to play at a men’s football first-team level.

“But also the eyes and ears in local communities to identify talent and potentially bring players the other way as well.”

The Clarets previously announced partnerships with Ayr United, Portadown, Llandudno and Cobh Ramblers in 2021.

It’s understood these relationships were two-year partnerships and have since expired. ALK Capital and the club, however, will still keep in contact with them on an ‘as and when’ basis.

“We came in and we actually made some partnerships very, very quickly with some clubs in Ireland, Northern Ireland, Wales and Scotland,” Pace explained.

“We just didn’t feel like we were at the right level of engagement for the two clubs. Although we enjoyed our partnership with others, we really felt we needed to be at this level in the Scottish Premiership and really look at developing players at a different category.”