Burnley owner plans to avoid Palace-style UEFA issue

BARCELONA, Spain -- Alan Pace has said plans are in place to avoid a Crystal Palace-Lyon situation after the Burnley owner completed the takeover of Spanish side Espanyol last week.

Palace were demoted to the Conference League this season, with Lyon keeping their place in the Europa League, after UEFA's Club Financial Control Body (CFCB) ruled the Premier League club was too closely linked to the French side.

Pace -- the frontman for Velocity Sport Limited (VSL), Premier League Burnley's owners since 2020 and now also the major shareholders at Espanyol -- said he would step aside from one of the two clubs should a similar situation arise.

"Yes, because I know what we have to do," the Espanyol president said in a news conference to announce his arrival at the Barcelona-based club on Tuesday.

"I have to leave one of the clubs, if not both of them at the same time. There are plans in place about what we would have to do. We have been planning for a long time, we have advisors on top of everything."

Pace, who first showed an interest in adding Espanyol to his portfolio in 2022, was keen to stress that both clubs will remain independent.

"I never want to say that the two are the same," he added. "It's a family and as we all have a family in one way or another, you'll know your brothers or your sisters are not the same as you. It's the same here: completely independent clubs.

"We have seen what's happened with our brother [Burnley], so maybe in some situations we can use that. Of course there will be synergies, but the clubs are completely independent."

Pace also refused to rule out expanding with the purchase of another club, although said it was not something he was actively pursuing at the moment.

VSL replace the Chinese company Rastar Group as Espanyol's major shareholders.

Espanyol have been relegated to the Spanish second division twice under Rastar, bouncing back quickly on both occasions, and Pace has ambitions to turn them into a top six side in LaLiga.

"Success for me is being one of big six clubs [in Spain], that would be great, that's success, being in the top six," he said.

"If we can then win more than that, it would be a dream as well. If you have the mentality that our place is among [the big clubs], that we're equals to them, that's success. We want that change of mentality.

"My problem is my dreams are big. My dream is for everyone to realise this is a great club, a special part of Barcelona and the world of football.

"My ambition will outlast me. If anything happens here, I would love for this club, any club that I am associated with, to win Champions League.

"But it's an ambition. It may happen long after I'm dead, but we have to put plans in place and change the mentality [for that to happen]. We want winners."

Plans for growth include growing the Espanyol brand around the world and attracting more tourists in the city, which they share with Spanish champions Barça, pointing out that LaLiga's financial fair play rules make it difficult to throw money at the project.

"Barça have grown thanks to people from outside Barcelona more than inside," he said.

"The tourists that come, they are not necessarily Barça fans, they want to see the best football possible. A lot of tourists come here and they have to at least have an opportunity to get to know us, to visit us... and maybe can make them Pericos as well. But they have to know we are here.

"There are things to do in the city and around the world. It's not just about how we play or if we have the best players. I think there are many ways we can introduce this club to the world and grow in that way."

Former NFL star J.J. Watt will also be involved with Espanyol, as he is with Burnley, although Pace said he would not have a specific role. "He's a great friend of mine," he said.

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Pace, who took questions in Spanish and promised to improve his Catalan, also showed an emotional side as he reflected on his path back to Barcelona, a city where he previously lived in 1992.

"Nothing, just that people have respect for me," he said when asked what he wanted his legacy to be, choking up. "That I am seen as part of the family here, and that my family is also part of the family, that's enough for me."

Espanyol , founder members of LaLiga and four-time Copa del Rey winners, have made an encouraging start to the new campaign, picking up 12 points from their opening eight games to leave them ninth in LaLiga.