Burnley chief exectutive - club will 'ride out' testing time

The Premier League resumes in eight days' time, with Burnley back in action on Monday, June 22nd at Manchester City.

Over three months have passed since the club's last game - the 1-1 draw at home to Spurs on March 7th - due to the coronavirus pandemic.

Burnley chairman Mike Garlick took the decision not to furlough non-playing staff, or impose cuts on the players and staff's wages, but warned of a potential £50m loss should the season not resume.

The club have always advocated completing the current campaign, but there will inevitably be losses, despite football's return, with a TV rights rebate, and games going ahead behind closed doors.

However, the club, who are 10th in the table with nine games to play, are virtually certain of a fifth-successive Premier League campaign, and Hart, speaking to Clarets Player HD, believes the future is still bright: “It’s not just football. That’s the global economy and certainly our UK economy is taking a massive hit.

“We will be like any other business; this will cost us. There’s a clear loss of revenue into Burnley Football Club.

“But this club has been incredibly well run over the last five, six, seven years and credit to the board and my predecessors and we are going to continue that mantra.

“I’m positive. As a club we are resilient, we are strong, we’re unified and we will ride this out and we will come through this and hopefully it won’t be too long before we’re back to normal.

“It’s testament to the job Sean has done, with his staff and players, that we are sitting 10th in the league in another fantastic season.

“I’m by no means going to start speculating on the football side but I’m confident we can go into those games and be very competitive. We know we have a fantastic manager who will prepare the squad incredibly well with his staff, so they will be ready to go.

“We will go into those games and see what they bring. Once we’ve completed the season we will move into the summer period and discussions are on-going regarding the start of next season.

“There’s a window of opportunity to get that underway and I’m confident we can do that with our counterparts at other clubs up and down the country and then we’ve got to keep taking the club forward.

“If you look at the trajectory of the club over the last five years, there’s a piece of work around maintaining that.

“But in some areas it’s about building upon that and there are some key pieces of work to be done.

“From the boardroom into myself and the senior executive team we’ve got to navigate the club through those challenges and I’m positive we can do that.”

And while grounds will be empty for the rest of the season, and potentially beyond that, Hart is delighted to see the players back in action: “It’s massive step forward.

“Clearly over the last couple of months there’s been a lot of uncertainty. Uncertainty brings concern, not just about the health and well-being of staff and players but of the nation.

“There has been lots in the Press around finances and the losses that clubs could encounter and are encountering, so the fact that we have a start date of 17 June – and we will follow quickly on the 22 June – and the first three fixtures are out, I think, is a massive step forward.

“We can all feel really positive about that and from a Burnley point of view there are fans across the town and up and down the country, actually, who can’t wait to see those nine games live on their TV screens.

“Burnley fans – and football fans in general – can look forward to a feast of football, right through to the back end of July and hopefully we will get there with no hiccups.”

Hart added: “From our point of view, we’re delighted to get there.

“We’ve always been strong advocates for getting re-started; we wanted to get back to training, we wanted to get back to playing because we felt that was the right thing to do and was in the interests of the integrity of the competition and we’re delighted we’re almost on the brink of that now.

“From the outset we always felt, once it was safe to do so, we want to play and we want to get the Premier League season back on because we always felt that was the right thing to do, for our supporters and for our stakeholders and it’s great we’re nearly there.

“The manager has always been a strong advocate of that and I know he, his staff and the players are delighted and buzzing to be back in training.”

The Clarets began non-contact training initially on May 19th, before upping the number of players allowed to work together in groups, and will play two practice games against opposing clubs this week.

But competitive games will then be played without fans, which will take some getting used to. However, Hart feels it is making the best of a bad situation, with all games to be televised: “Supporters and fans are the lifeblood of any football club, so engaging with them and keeping that dialogue going is really important.

“We’re sorry we can’t get supporters in the ground. That’s where we always want to be, obviously, but with the current pandemic and with the challenges we are facing with social distancing, which is the right thing for us to be doing, we just cannot do that.

“That is, unfortunately, the compromise to get football back on, so what we are doing is looking at an enhanced broadcast package. First and foremost, having all of our fixtures on TV is fantastic and looking at fan engagement opportunities along the way.

“I’m sure the supporters will get a really good broadcast product they can engage with and they can watch in their living rooms up and down the country.”