ALAN Pace says it would have been “silly” to wipe the slate clean and not to keep the counsel of former chairmen Mike Garlick and John Banaszkiewicz.

New Burnley chairman Pace is bringing in new directors to the club following a multi million pound takeover by American sports investment company ALK Capital, of which he is a managing partner.

But he felt it was important to maintain Garlick and Banaszkiewicz’s experience and knowledge of the club as they look to build on it going forward.

“They are staying involved on the board,” confirmed Pace.

“We thought that coming in as new members of this family, taking on all of that without any semblance of advice or experience, would be very silly on our part.

“Having two key individuals that have been involved for quite some time and have got the building blocks in place, was really important.”

Garlick and Banaszkiewicz shared the chairmanship after Barry Kilby stepped down for healthy reasons, before Garlick continued in the role alone, with Banaszkiewicz retaining his place on the board.

“They will help us on the board, give us their wisdom, how they have dealt with things - that is super-important and it’s also so we don’t make silly mistakes that could be avoided by just listening.”

Pace already likes what he sees at Burnley, but he insists there is scope and potential for growth.

“I think so,” he said. “We see the building blocks and this is a platform we see as an opportunity.

“There are things here we think can reach beyond where we are today.

“I can’t give you a timeframe.

“If we are fortunate enough to still be here in 20 years then the ambitions will be very different to what they are today.”

Asked if he had seen examples of other clubs’ strategies that he wants to replicate, he added: “In different ways. We haven’t seen one (club) that incorporates all the aspects we have thought about.

“But there are pieces in different places, maybe the way we have the fan experience, the way talent is developed, the way we use technology, the media outlets and how they have developed those.

“We are not the smartest guy in the room, we did not create everything, but we do believe with a lot of hard work and the help of a lot of people then we can take some of these great ideas and actually bring them together in a different way for this club and this family.”