The company that controls Burnley Football Club has never filed a set of accounts. It owes the club £81m, it has pledged security to a Delaware credit fund, and Burnley’s own auditor has tied the club’s going-concern case to money coming back from it.
Velocity Capital (UK) Holdings Ltd (company number 14755517) holds 82.7% of Burnley FC Holdings Limited. It is the legal owner of control of the club. It is also the weakest-disclosed link in the entire ownership chain.
Key findings
- No accounts, ever. Velocity was incorporated on 24 March 2023. Its first accounts, for the period to 31 March 2024, were due by 24 December 2024. Companies House still shows them as overdue. Nothing has been filed since.
- A history of strike-off action. A First Gazette notice for compulsory strike-off was filed on 18 February 2025 and discontinued on 12 March 2025. A fresh notice was reported by City AM and the Burnley Express on 28 October 2026.
- £80.99m owed to the club. Burnley FC Holdings’ audited accounts to 31 July 2025 show £80.986m owed by Velocity. The balance is interest-free, unsecured and repayable on demand.
- Going concern rests on the parent. BDO’s audit report contains a material uncertainty paragraph that cites receipts from the parent company as a critical assumption.
- Security granted to a US fund. On 14 October 2025 Velocity granted charges to CCM Entertainment II Holdings, LLC, a Delaware fund vehicle administered by Corrum Capital Management. One charge, held “as Security Agent”, remains outstanding.
- Opaque above the UK line. Everything above Velocity sits outside UK registers. The jurisdiction of its immediate parent, Velocity Sports Limited, cannot be established from public sources.
The conclusion is simple. Burnley’s solvency case depends on cash flowing from a parent whose own balance sheet does not exist on the public record. That is a gap regulators should close by compulsion, not by waiting for voluntary disclosure.
Velocity is a London-registered holding company whose only established function is to hold the controlling stake in Burnley FC Holdings.
| Attribute | Detail | Status |
|---|---|---|
| Registered name | Velocity Capital (UK) Holdings Ltd | Verified |
| Company number | 14755517 | Verified |
| Incorporated | 24 March 2023 | Verified |
| Registered office | One Mayfair Place, Level 1, Devonshire House, Mayfair, London W1J 8AJ | Verified |
| SIC code | 64209, activities of other holding companies | Verified |
| Accounting reference date | 31 March, out of step with Burnley’s 31 July year end | Verified |
| Accounts | Overdue; none filed since incorporation | Verified |
| Directors | Alan Gary Pace, Stuart Andrew Hunt, Michael Lee Smith (all appointed 24 March 2023) | Verified |
| Person with significant control | Alan Gary Pace | Reported (aggregator) |
| Charges | 2 registered: 1 outstanding, 1 satisfied | Verified |
| Previous names | None | Verified |
Two of the three directors are resident in the United States. There is no independent or UK non-executive director.
A correction to the record: Velocity is not “formerly Calder Vale”
Some commentary, including our own analysis of Burnley’s 2024/25 accounts published in May 2026, described Velocity as formerly known as Calder Vale Holdings Ltd. The register does not support that, and we correct it here.
Calder Vale Holdings Limited is a separate company (number 12919689). It was the vehicle through which ALK completed the takeover on 30 December 2020, and it was Burnley FC Holdings’ person with significant control until 6 October 2023. It entered members’ voluntary liquidation on 23 April 2024, with BDO’s Malcolm Cohen and Matthew Chadwick as joint liquidators, and was dissolved on 7 April 2026.
Velocity replaced Calder Vale as the controlling shareholder on 6 October 2023. Ten days later Velocity filed a statement of capital following a share allotment. The pattern fits a share-for-share reorganisation followed by a solvent wind-up of the old vehicle.
That matters for the £81m balance discussed below. The club’s accounts say the balance arose at the time of the 2020 acquisition, when Calder Vale was the acquirer. For it now to be owed by Velocity, it must have been transferred in the reorganisation. No public document sets out the terms of that transfer.
Ownership: above and below Velocity
The chain is clear at UK level and opaque above it. The best primary source is Burnley’s own statutory significant-interest disclosure, which states that Velocity holds 82.7% of Burnley FC Holdings and is wholly owned by Velocity Sports Limited. Above that sit Velocity Sports Partners LLC and ALK Capital LLC, which the club says is wholly owned by Alan Pace, Mike Smith and Stuart Hunt.
Control flows down the left-hand column; Velocity’s only identified investment is the 82.7% stake in Burnley FC Holdings, while the right-hand column shows the reported co-investors and the two secured lenders.
Above Velocity
| Entity | Jurisdiction | Interest | Status |
|---|---|---|---|
| ALK Capital LLC | USA (reported Delaware) | Ultimate parent; sole holder above 25% in Velocity Sports Partners LLC | Club disclosure verified; jurisdiction reported |
| Velocity Sports Partners LLC | USA | Holder above 25% in Velocity Sports Limited | Club disclosure verified |
| Velocity Sports Limited | Not established | 100% of Velocity | Club disclosure verified; jurisdiction a gap |
| Rastar Group (China) | China | Reported 16.45% of the investment vehicle, from the Espanyol consideration | Reported |
| Cynosure Checketts Sports Capital Fund I | USA | Reported US$200m investment in ALK’s football operations, November 2025 | Reported |
| JJ and Kealia Watt, Dude Perfect and others | Various | Minority stakes; level of the structure not established | Reported |
Three points need flagging.
- Velocity Sports Limited cannot be located. The UK company of that name (number 08770073) is an unrelated construction business in Kent. No UK-registered Velocity Sports Limited connected to Pace has been identified, so it is probably a non-UK entity.
- Burnley’s accounts name Alan Pace as ultimate controlling party and state that ALK Capital LLC does not prepare consolidated accounts. The split of ALK between Pace, Smith and Hunt is not public.
- The 82.7% figure does not reconcile with earlier reporting. The press gave 84% at takeover and just over 90% by 2024. Burnley FC Holdings’ confirmation statement of 30 September 2025 should resolve this.
Below Velocity
| Entity | Company number | Held by | Function | Status |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Burnley FC Holdings Limited | 08335231 | Velocity, 82.7% | Group holding company; files group accounts | Verified |
| The Burnley Football & Athletic Company Limited | 00054222 | Burnley FC Holdings, 100% | The operating club; leasehold of Turf Moor | Verified |
| Longside Properties Limited | 05202619 | Burnley FC Holdings | Freehold of Turf Moor, the Leisure Centre and Home Farm (Barnfield) | Subsidiary status verified; percentage a gap |
| Burnley FC Women Limited | 13192796 | Burnley FC Holdings | Reported dormant | Reported |
RCD Espanyol de Barcelona is not held through Velocity. It sits in a sister branch under Velocity Sports Limited and Velocity Sports Partners. No evidence has been found that Velocity holds anything other than its Burnley FC Holdings stake.
The £81m question
Burnley’s balance sheet carries an £81m asset whose recoverability depends entirely on a company that publishes no financial information. The figures below come from Burnley FC Holdings’ audited group accounts for the year to 31 July 2025, filed on 29 April 2026.
| £m | Year to 31 Jul 2025 (Championship) | Year to 31 Jul 2024 (Premier League) |
|---|---|---|
| Turnover | 71.7 | 133.6 |
| Staff costs | 82.3 | 93.4 |
| Wages to turnover | 114.7% | 69.9% |
| Profit on player disposals | 59.0 | 15.1 |
| Loss before tax | (29.2) | (28.4) |
| Net current liabilities | (83.7) | (37.1) |
| Total interest-bearing debt | 142.4 | 112.4 |
| Net assets | 25.6 | 54.1 |
| Owed by Velocity | 81.0 | 97.6 |
The accounts describe the Velocity balance as interest-free, unsecured and repayable on demand. Of the total, £65.0m sits in the holding company and £16.0m in the operating club. It is to be settled “by various means”, principally by netting future dividends against it. The directors do not expect it to be repaid in cash within 12 months.
BDO LLP’s audit report includes a material uncertainty related to going concern. It refers explicitly to receipts from the parent company being allocated against the intercompany balance.
The arithmetic is stark. Net assets of £25.6m sit beneath an £81m receivable. If that receivable were impaired in full, the group’s reported equity would be negative by approximately £55m.
Related-party flows
| Flow | Year to 31 Jul 2025 | Status |
|---|---|---|
| Repayments received from group companies | £20.9m (2024: £26.5m) | Audited, secondary |
| New loans made to group companies | £4.3m | Audited, secondary |
| Management fee charged by an affiliated entity | £4.0m (2024: £1.5m) | Audited, secondary |
| Non-bank borrowings drawn | £30.0m | Audited, secondary |
The club paid £4.0m in management fees to an affiliate in a relegation year. In the same period it received £20.9m in intercompany repayments and lent out a further £4.3m. Without Velocity’s accounts it is impossible to tell whether those repayments represent new external money or circular flows funded, directly or indirectly, by the club itself. That is the single most important question a regulator should answer.
The CCM charge: Velocity’s secured lender
Velocity is not just a debtor to the club. It is also a secured borrower from a US private-credit fund.
| Charge | Created | Chargee | Status |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1475 5517 0001 | 14 Oct 2025 | CCM Entertainment II Holdings, LLC | Satisfied 24 Oct 2025 |
| 1475 5517 0002 | 14 Oct 2025 | CCM Entertainment II Holdings, LLC, as Security Agent | Outstanding |
Both charges are described on the register as containing a fixed charge; the full security documents were not reviewed.
CCM Entertainment II Holdings, LLC is registered in Delaware, care of Cogency Global. Its LEI record (254900Z7QAVDHAVUN892) categorises it as a fund, gives its headquarters as care of Corrum Capital Management LLC in Charlotte, North Carolina, and shows it was created on 6 August 2025. Corrum describes itself as a specialist lender to sports, music and entertainment, and has been acquired by the Callodine.
The charges were created six days after the Espanyol acquisition completed on 8 October 2025. A first charge satisfied after ten days and replaced by a security-agent charge suggests a facility restructured into a multi-lender or agented arrangement. No public source links the facility to Espanyol, and its principal, rate and maturity are unknown.
Why it matters. A holding company’s principal asset is normally its shares in its subsidiary. If charge 0002 covers the Burnley FC Holdings shares, enforcement would transfer control of Burnley to a US credit fund or its nominee. That would trigger change-of-control and owners’ and directors’ test processes under league rules and the Independent Football Regulator regime.
Group debt and security
Two layers of secured creditors now sit ahead of Burnley’s unsecured football creditors: Fasanara over the club and its grounds, and CCM over the parent.
| Company | Charge | Created | Chargee or assets charged | Status |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Velocity (14755517) | 0002 | 14 Oct 2025 | CCM Entertainment II Holdings, LLC (Security Agent) | Outstanding |
| Burnley FC Holdings (08335231) | 0004 | 15 Jan 2025 | Fasanara Capital Ltd | Outstanding |
| Burnley Football & Athletic Co (00054222) | 0033 | 15 Jan 2025 | Leasehold Turf Moor, Leisure Centre, Home Farm; fixed and floating charge; negative pledge | Outstanding |
| Longside Properties (05202619) | 0009 | 15 Jan 2025 | Freehold Turf Moor, Leisure Centre, Home Farm | Outstanding |
All of the above are verified against the Companies House charge registers.
The debt has been refinanced three times since the takeover:
- December 2020: MSD-financed leveraged buyout. The press reported a loan of around £60m to £65m with a relegation acceleration clause.
- January 2024: MGG facility, replacing MSD; MSD’s holding-company charge was satisfied in February 2023.
- January 2025: Fasanara facility, replacing MGG; MGG’s charges were satisfied in February 2025.
At 31 July 2025 gross interest-bearing debt stood at £142.4m: £105.3m of bank loans at fixed rates of 7.25% to 12%, plus £37.0m of factored debt at 8.5% to 12.75%. A £40m loan classified as current at the year end was amended afterwards to fall due beyond one year.
Strike-off: the register versus the reports
On 28 October 2026 City AM reported that Velocity’s accounts were almost two years overdue and that the company could be dissolved, with its assets passing to the Crown, unless the issue was resolved within the statutory two-month window. The Burnley Express reported that Velocity had never filed accounts since incorporation.
On the same day, the Companies House overview still showed Velocity as active, with no proposal-to-strike-off flag. The timing of the new notice should therefore be treated as unresolved until it appears in the Gazette.
| Date | Event | Status |
|---|---|---|
| 24 Dec 2024 | First accounts deadline missed | Verified |
| 18 Feb 2025 | First Gazette notice for compulsory strike-off | Verified |
| 12 Mar 2025 | Strike-off action discontinued | Verified |
| 14 Oct 2025 | CCM charges created | Verified |
| 28 Oct 2026 | Fresh strike-off notice reported | Reported |
If the company were struck off, its property, including the 82.7% stake in Burnley FC Holdings, would vest in the Crown as bona vacantia under section 1012 of the Companies Act 2006 until the company was restored. A secured creditor would almost certainly object to dissolution, so completion is unlikely. But the episode is itself evidence of a governance failure: failure to file accounts is a criminal offence for directors under the Companies Act.
What regulators should ask for
On the public record, no regulator can currently confirm Velocity’s solvency, the scope of the CCM security, the full list of economic interests above Velocity Sports Limited, or whether the parent’s repayments represent new capital. These are not technical defects. They go to the exact question Burnley’s auditor has already flagged.
| Risk | Rating | Basis |
|---|---|---|
| Transparency and statutory compliance | High | No accounts filed in roughly 22 months past the first deadline; two strike-off episodes |
| Encumbered control | High | Outstanding security-agent charge to a US fund; scope unknown |
| Going-concern dependency on the parent | High | Material uncertainty cites receipts from the parent |
| Upstream opacity | High | Parent jurisdiction unknown; ALK unconsolidated; reported investors absent from UK registers |
| Leverage and debt sustainability | High | £142.4m gross debt at 7.25% to 12.75%; net assets £25.6m; second relegation |
| Related-party extraction | Medium | £4.0m affiliate fee in a relegation year; circularity of flows undetermined |
| Dissolution | Medium | Low probability, severe impact: the controlling stake would pass to the Crown |
| Multi-club | Medium | Espanyol under common control |
Ratings are my assessment.
- Compel filing. Require Velocity’s overdue accounts to 31 March 2024 and 31 March 2025, plus a current management balance sheet.
- Disclose the CCM facility. Obtain the security documents for charge 0002, the facility agreement, principal, rate, maturity, covenants and enforcement triggers. Confirm whether the Burnley FC Holdings shares are charged.
- Map the full chain. Require the jurisdiction, registration number and share register of Velocity Sports Limited and Velocity Sports Partners LLC, the member interests in ALK Capital LLC, and the instruments held by Rastar and Cynosure Checketts.
- Make parent support binding. Replace the directors’ opinion with a legally binding, collateralised support undertaking, or require the £81m balance to be settled or formally subordinated.
- Test for circularity. Trace the sources of the £20.9m intercompany repayments and the recipient of the £4.0m management fee.
Data limitations and sources
- Velocity has filed no financial statements. Every Velocity balance in this piece is inferred from its subsidiary’s accounts.
- Burnley FC Holdings’ 2024/25 figures are taken from detailed secondary extractions of the filed audited accounts, not from direct inspection of the PDF.
- Velocity’s PSC identity, share allotment and filing chronology come partly from aggregator mirrors of Companies House. The full charge descriptions and the amount of the October 2023 allotment were not established.
- The October 2026 strike-off notice is reported by City AM and the Burnley Express but was not yet visible on the Companies House overview on 28 October 2026.
- Entities above Velocity are outside UK registers. Their percentages, beyond the club’s above-25% statements, cannot be verified.
- Press figures, including the £170m takeover value, the €130m Espanyol deal, Rastar’s 16.45% and the US$200m Cynosure Checketts investment, are reported
Sources
- Companies House: Velocity Capital (UK) Holdings Ltd, 14755517
- Companies House: Velocity charges register
- Companies House: Burnley FC Holdings Limited, PSC register
- Companies House: Burnley FC Holdings Limited, charges
- Companies House: The Burnley Football & Athletic Company Limited, charges
- Companies House: Longside Properties Limited, charges
- Companies House: Calder Vale Holdings Limited, 12919689
- The London Gazette: Calder Vale Holdings, appointment of liquidators
- Burnley FC: company details and significant interests
- LEI record: CCM Entertainment II Holdings, LLC
- Callodine Group: acquisition of Corrum Capital Management
- The Esk: Burnley FC Holdings 2024/25 accounts analysis
- The Pyramid: Burnley debt and going concern
- City AM: Burnley parent company threatened with liquidation
- Burnley Express: compulsory strike-off notice
- SportsPro: Espanyol takeover by Velocity Sport
Leave a Reply