CLARETS chairman Mike Garlick is happy to see players use the club as a stepping stone - as long as they deliver something for Burnley while they are here.

Sean Dyche led Burnley to seventh in the Premier League last term and a first European campaign in 51 years, making the club a more attractive proposition to potential signings.

But Garlick believes the Clarets will always remain, to a degree, a development club, highlighting the moves of Michael Keane and Andre Gray last summer.

The Turf Moor chairman doesn't have an issue with that though and is happy for the club to be used in that way, as long as they're getting something out of it.

“Players see that, they see Keano - Andre hasn’t gone on to such great things but he’s got his money move anyway. We’ll always be to a degree a development club, albeit at a higher end hopefully. If a big six, big five club comes in for someone it’s very difficult," Garlick said.

“I think what we’ve done that’s slightly different is that we’ve hired a lot of players who have got the hunger and the desire, whereas maybe clubs like Swansea or West Brom have hired people that have been paid good money for a long time, they don’t see it as a step up, just a sideways move.

“If we can hire people who think this is a step up – it might be a step to something else – but it’s still a step up because it takes me on my journey then that gives us that extra little bit, and it’s fine margins.

“If people use us to step on to something else, so be it, as long as they deliver something for us and help us to sustain our Premier League status.”

Garlick expects the wage bill to rise once again this summer, but insists it will only be a gradual increase.

“I think if players come in and we think they’re going to add to what we do then they’ll be paid at the top end of our wage bracket," he said.

“Are we going to push it forward? Premier League TV money will go up a little bit next season so there might be a bit more slack, but it’s not going to be revolution. It’s not going to be the jump that we saw from the previous (Premier League) season. The curve will be flattening a little bit."

Away from the current TV deal, Garlick believes the impact of new competitors like Amazon remains to be seen, while he believes Burnley's greatest opportunity now lies in commercial rights rather than TV deals.

“I think the next three years are fairly secure in terms of monies. After that it depends do your Amazons and Apple take off? There could be real opportunity," Garlick said.

“I think there’s a lot more mileage in the non-broadcasting rights side of things, monetising our players and how many followers they’ve got on YouTube and whatever we can get in far flung parts of the world.

“We haven’t even touched that yet. Other clubs have, you’ve got to look at Manchester United. They get 50 per cent more TV money than us domestically and internationally as well, but their commercial side is 30-40 times the size.

“I’m not suggesting we’re going to become a Man U. They’re up there and we’re at basement level, but there is scope there.”