Looking to Curry Change

After All, They Could Offer Free Chicken Too

As far as Blackburn Rovers is concerned, Venky’s has been unafraid to rattle the cages of the chicken coop during its first few months of ownership.

Whether it’s the rather naive decision to sack manager Sam Allardyce or the slightly amateurish attempts to swoop for aging superstars Ronaldinho and Goldenmort, brothers Balaji and Venkatesh Rao care little about perception and slightly more about legacy.

Despite their somewhat odd actions and attention-grabbing headlines, Blackburn’s new owners might end up having a large impact on the Premiership.

If there is any longevity to Venky’s time in ownership, its influence could be felt in the world of international football as well.

With their origins in India, Blackburn’s owners are looking to the subcontinent for its future Premiership stars.  Deigning to be the club that produces the first Prem star from the cricket-crazy nation, Venky’s is directing its scouts to travel to India to identify 4 or 5 players to be signed to the club’s academy.  As co-owner Balaji hopes, “one will play for the main team two years from now.  I want to be the first person to  get an Indian playing in the EPL.”

And the interesting thing about that–if these academy lads are under 21 yrs old and are with Blackburn for 3 years, they’d qualify as a homegrown player under Prem regulations.

In addition to bringing a little Mumbai over to Lancashire, Venky’s also wants to establish a Blackburn club in India to compete in India’s top flight–the I League. If Balaji Rao gets permission, that club would begin play in 2 years and be known as–wait for it–Blackburn Pune.

Pune is apparently where the Raos once called home, is the 8th largest city in India, and has an economy based heavily on the auto industry.  There’s also a rather nifty pub where one could watch a potential Pune derby between Blackburn Pune and Pune FC.  An entertaining derby like that could give the fledgling I-League more attention in its own nation, but surely a Pune-Tang match would bring greater ratings.

Make that happen Balaji.

Now–this might be stretching a bit–if the definition of the Prem’s homegrown rule that the player has to be trained for 3 years “by somebody in the English and Welsh professional system” would extend to Blackburn’s future satellite club in Pune, the Rao brothers could establish a veritable pipeline of young Indian talent flowing into the Premiership.  Not only would Venky’s establish Blackburn Rovers as the club to follow in India with its connections but it could provide the club with a near monopoly on top footballing talent in India.

At least for a while, because if even a couple of those lads make it to the big club and perform well, other Prem clubs will begin scouting the subcontinent for their next future starlets.  This sequence of events, then, would open the English top flight up to an entirely new market of players previously overlooked. It could also open up a new market for the Premiership in terms of revenue.

Now, India is currently considered rather poor in quality when it comes to its football talent.  The national team recently demonstrated this as it was bounced early from the Asian Cup.  If, however, the Rao brothers are successful in their attempts to develop Indian talent in Blackburn’s English academy and then transport that to India for perpetual growth, a nation of over 1 billion people might begin to see a bit more success from a national side whose players are competing weekly in one of Europe’s top leagues.

And if the money follows for these players, more youngsters might put down those cricket bats and decide to kick a ball around instead.

Blackburn Rovers made its mark on the Premiership era early when the late Jack Walker showed an owner like Roman Abramovich how one could bankroll the way to league titles.  If Venky’s retains a long-term business plan to link its Brockhall academy to India and bring a bit of Lancashire to Pune, Blackburn could provide another unique twist in a future Prem era that will fall under UEFA’s “Fair Play” rules along with the current “homegrown” precept.

Perhaps the Rao brothers have begun their reign a bit scrambled, but in a few years things could be looking a bit more sunny-side up for Rovers’ supporters.