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Blackburn Rovers have been busy in the transfer market this summer, with Lewis Miller joining the club from Hibernian, with Axel Henriksson expected to follow close behind him through the door at Ewood Park.
This business seems to show that Rovers’ owners are fully backing their manager Valerien Ismael ahead of the new season.
However, there are pockets of frustration at the Venky’s regarding some of their business, as they saw Callum Brittain leave the club to join Middlesbrough, while Tyrhys Dolan left to join Espanyol on a free, and the pair of Danny Batth and Andreas Weimann joined Derby County upon the expiration of their contracts at Rovers.
There have been, for a sustained period of time, those fans that would have liked to have seen the Venky’s leave; however, this does not seem likely anytime soon.
- READ MORE: New Blackburn Rovers star says Valerien Ismael has ‘shown him the way’ to improve already
Finance expert explains the real reason the Venky’s aren’t selling Rovers
There is under a week until Rovers play West Brom in their Championship opener, and there does not appear to be any movement towards a change of owner anytime soon despite the financial struggles the Venky’s have endured in recent seasons.
Our finance expert, Adam Williams, has explained more about the current situation at Blackburn Rovers.
He said: “Venky’s have subsidised the clubs losses for a long, long time now. They injected about £23m into the club via equity in 2023, and the loans from the owners increased by around £11m in the financial year too. In terms of total contributions alone, they are more than £200m in the red.
“There have been complications with the legal issues in India. That means they have had to match the money they send to England with a personal guarantee. Presumably, they think they don’t have sufficient liquidity to justify committing the funds necessary to really compete in the transfer market, so they are content to let the club subsist on the transfer fees it’s receiving for now. But then that’s circular logic because with no investment, the Venky’s are prolonging the period of time that Blackburn remains in the Championship – or worse – and therefore the amount of time you have to continue underwriting the losses.
“The Wharton money underwrote the club’s operating losses for a whole year. Szmodics and a few others have helped too, and now Brittain. Every pound they recoup in player sale profits is a pound they don’t have to take out of their own bank accounts – in fact, it’s actually two pounds given the provisions of the court case in India. But that clearly isn’t a sustainable model.”
There is a desperate need for a change of ownership at Blackburn Rovers
Blackburn Rovers are celebrating its 150th anniversary as a football club this season, and there is some excitement around it for fans.
However, this may be the right time for a change of ownership, as nobody seems to be winning from the current model at the club, with the owners seemingly suffering along with the current fan base, a thought mentioned by our finance expert, Adam Williams.
He said: “Their revenue was £21m in the last financial year, which was one of the lowest in the Championship. Without any real TLC, that’s not going to change significantly in the years to come. It’s the 150th anniversary year this coming season, which they will hope will spark a little commercial boom, but it’s not going to move the needle much.
“Attendances are poor, and the club has lost a generation of support. While the owners are still there, those fans aren’t going to come back. That means they have got low matchday income too. There doesn’t seem to be any kind of overall vision or grand plan to change the atmosphere around the club. The owners are absentee landlords.
“It would be fascinating to see what a change of ownership would do for the club. We’ve seen elsewhere how much cultural change that can bring about. The club needs that – badly.
“As to why the Venky’s are sticking around, I don’t have the foggiest. They are never going to get close to recouping their money, and with each year that passes, they are losing more and more. The rational thing to do would be to cut their losses and sell up. But seemingly, they aren’t rational people. Perhaps it’s a pride thing.”