It had been noted before in a Backpasses link, but now it appears official. The Jack Walker Trust has completed its sale of Blackburn Rovers to Indian company Venky’s for £23 million. The Lancashire club had been on sale for the past two years. Oh, and Venky’s isn’t an English company. The shame!
Originally dealers in poultry, the Rao family becomes the first Indian owners of a Premiership club. In addition to the purchase of the shares, Venky’s also acquires the £20 million club debt.
No word yet on how spicy Sam Allardyce wants the curry to be in the club kitchens.
Makes sense I suppose. Big Sam’s teams are usually known for their fowls.
/Shows self out
@Ryan: Wow. That was awful. I applaud you, sir.
A whole club for £23M? That sounds dirt cheap.
I’m not a fan of the sale, but after sitting in the shop window with a “buy 1, get 1 free” sign on for damn near forever, I guess getting anyone to buy and (theoretically) address the outstanding debt is a positive. Either this new ownership stabilizes the club in the EPL for awhile, or we’ll be entertaining Swindon Town and Oldham soon enough. Assuaging my hope: the Jack Walker trust has been fairly adamant on selling to someone who can either stabilize or improve the club. Stoking my fear: a business plan centered on making Blackburn Rovers the preeminent EPL team in India. Oh, and the new owners began as chicken farmers.
So, yeah, “Bring on the Grecians!” it is…
Blackburn is worth £23 million. The Houston Astros worth over £500 million.
@Tno: That’s not really fair… everything is bigger in Texas..
Only 23? That is like, dirt cheap.