Premier League club Burnley in £200m takeover talks
A £200m bid to buy Premier League football club Burnley from a Cheshire lawyer and an Egyptian businessman is in its final stages after a year of discussions.
Chris Farnell and Mohamed El Kashashy have been in long talks with Burnley’s shareholders about buying the Lancashire club.
Farnell is the senior partner at Hale sports law firm IPS Law, having previously worked for Hill Dickinson and Eversheds.
He has previously advised the owners and potential owners of several football clubs, including Charlton Athletic and Bury, where he has sometimes served as the lightning rod for criticism from vocal fans online. He was briefly banned from owning a football club by the EFL after events at Charlton, but the restriction ended this week after an appeal.
Burnley chairman Mike Garlick, who owns nearly half of the club, has been sole chairman since 2015. He joined the board in 2006 having made his money running IT consultancy MBA.
It has a reputation as a well-run club. Manager Sean Dyche is England’s third-longest serving manager, and will mark his eighth anniversary tomorrow, while the club has typically outperformed its wage bill on the pitch.
Burnley have been in the Premier League since 2016 and qualified for the Europa League in 2018-19. The club finished 10th last season although have had an indifferent start this time and are currently 18th, with just one point from its first five matches.
