What a terrible read this is. Poor ownership really can kill a club. So different to us right now thankfully.
http://www.dailymail.co.uk/sport/football/article-4238742/Blackburn-left-die-FA-Venky-s.html
Blackburn Rovers are a family club but they have been left to die by the FA and Venky's
- Venky's have overseen Blackburn's descent from the Premier League
- Former Premier League champions are in bottom three of the Championship
- They host Manchester United in the fifth-round of the FA Cup on Sunday
By
GLEN MULLAN FOR MAILONLINE
PUBLISHED: 12:39 +11:00, 19 February 2017 | UPDATED: 12:45 +11:00, 19 February 2017
It wasn't so long ago that the club I've supported all my life, Blackburn Rovers, could face Manchester United on something like equal terms, both our teams Premier League winners, both long-standing Premier League members.
In fact the last time that Rovers played at Old Trafford in a top-flight league game, in December 2011, we won 3-2, Yakubu scoring twice and Grant Hanley getting the winner after Dimitar Berbatov had scored two for United.
When our proud clubs meet again on Sunday, this time in the FA Cup at Ewood Park, they do so arguably saddled with the two most detested sets of owners in English football. Yes, I'm aware that is a competitive market these days!
Blackburn Rovers were bought by Venky's when they were a Premier League club back in 2010
But the Glazer family weighed down United with hundreds of millions of pounds of debt while enriching themselves. And the Rao family - better known as Venky' s - have done nothing less than wrecked Blackburn Rovers.
Where on earth do you begin to catalogue the list of appalling mistakes they've made? How can you quantify their betrayal of our club and of us, the fans?
Perhaps it's best to start with the day they completed their takeover in November 2010, an excruciating six years and three months ago.
Venky's rolled into town like characters from a Bollywood blockbuster, full of promises. The one that sticks most firmly in the mind, and in the craw, was the promise to respect the club's history and the heritage upon which the foundations of the club were built.
Yakubu scored twice the last time Blackburn faced Manchester United at Old Trafford
Blackburn were under Steve Kean when they were relegated from the Premier League
What a load of garbage. They sacked a capable manager in Sam Allardyce and replaced him with the hapless Steve Kean.
They removed a board of directors with experience, nous and dedication most other clubs could only dream of. They sold playing assets, including Phil Jones to Sunday's opponents, went through managers like a dose of salts and then oversaw relegation, stagnation and farce.
Jack Walker made dreams come true and left a legacy. Venky's have been a nightmare and ripped it up.
Crowds have dropped by 70 per cent as fans have protested, boycotted and called for the owners to sell our club to someone who actually cares about it before things get even worse.
As a supporter who has spent a large part of the past six years trying to unearth how all this happened, and appealing to football's authorities to examine the lack of regulation and checks and balances that allowed this to happen, my life has been turned upside down.
I've personally been part of delegations to see the FA, the Premier League, the Football League and MPs at Parliament.
Blackburn fans have led extensive protests against the owners Venky's in the last six years
- Team P GD Pts
1 Brighton and Hove Albion 32 28 68
2 Newcastle United 31 35 66
3 Huddersfield Town 31 7 61
4 Reading 32 6 60
5 Leeds United 33 11 58
6 Sheffield Wednesday 32 11 58
7 Norwich City 33 11 51
8 Fulham 31 15 49
9 Barnsley 33 4 49
10 Preston North End 33 4 49
11 Derby County 31 7 47
12 Cardiff City 33 -2 45
13 Ipswich Town 33 -7 41
14 Birmingham City 33 -14 40
15 Brentford 31 -1 37
16 Queens Park Rangers 32 -11 37
17 Aston Villa 31 -6 36
18 Nottingham Forest 33 -12 36
19 Wolverhampton Wanderers 31 -4 35
20 Burton Albion 32 -13 34
21 Bristol City 31 -4 32
22 Wigan Athletic 32 -9 30
23 Blackburn Rovers 31 -13 29
24 Rotherham United 33 -43 17
What's been done? Nothing. Nothing to examine the appalling stewardship, the involvement and greed of third parties, the lack of checks and balances, the absence of proper scrutiny.
The so-called 'fit and proper person' test is not worth the paper it's written on.
No club has a divine right to success. That goes without saying. This isn't some pitiful lament because we feel we 'deserve' to be doing better.
On the pitch we should go up and down as results dictate like anyone else. But it really shouldn't be the case that absentee owners with zero credentials let a family be mashed to a pulp.
Family? Yes family. Blackburn Rovers is a family I was born into, it's my identity, my team, my passion. The Raos may hold the keys to the front door but the supporters are the lifeblood of any club. And it's draining away from us.
Where does this leave us ahead of a game with United where even under their greedy owners' self-interested stewardship they can buy the world's most expensive player among a host of stars?
It leaves us heading to the third tier, broken and in debt, with a squad assembled over the last 12 months for the price of a semi-detached house a hoofed clearance from Ewood Park.
Blackburn are rooted in the bottom three of the Championship under Owen Coyle
Our squad has been flooded with loanees, free transfers and never have-beens.
They will be on display when United roll into town, when a big crowd is expected, and more protests.
If I have one message for Venky's it is this: as a fan I'm still standing. I was here long before you, and will be here long after you disappear.
We, the Rovers supporters, will continue to wait in the wings as guardians until that day comes.
In the meantime we will support our side in the Football Association Cup. And we will thank the FA for the square root of nothing. You are custodians of our game - but you have left us to die.
Glen Mullan was a founder member of the Blackburn Rovers Action Group and former secretary of the Rovers Trust.
