New look for the future

In a move designed to create a 'slimmed down, more executive orientated board', John Williams has replaced Rob Coar as the club's new chairman, and Tom Finn and Martin Goodman have assumed the roles of Managing and Finance Directors respectively.

David Brown, one of Jack Walker's trustees, has also been appointed as the club's new vice chairman, while Iain Stanners, George Root and Keith Lee have retired from their roles as directors to become vice presidents.

We asked John Williams what are the implications of the new changes? What does the future hold for Blackburn Rovers? And what new ways of attracting fresh investment would he consider, including the prospect of renaming Ewood Park ....

Question: Congratulations on becoming the new chairman, John. What does this appointment mean in terms of your role at the club?

John: The reality is not a lot is changing. It's kind of rubberstamping what has already been happening in a way. That said, it's still an honour and I'm very pleased to be the chairman of Blackburn Rovers. In reality, though, not a lot will change on a day-to-day basis.

Question: Will there still be a Chief Executive then, or does that role no longer exist?

John: There's a managing director instead, which will be Tom Finn. This reshuffle has enabled us to put a little bit of depth into what is usually a very flat structure in a football club.

I don't want to fall into the trap of people thinking 'is he talking about succession planning here?' but that is something you have to keep an eye on and what this has enabled us to do is promote Tom, who has been a director, to managing director. So you can see that with an executive chairman and a managing director everything is beginning to fall into place.

Question: So this is the kind of structure you believe is needed to run a successful business and a successful football club?

John: I think it's the right structure and our owners (Jack Walker's trustees) clearly do as well. I'm happy with it in terms of it creates opportunities for others, and if I've learned anything then it's the need to have some continuity. What we didn't want to do was anything that would in any way adversely affect Mark Hughes and the football side of things and in that sense, the relationships are completely unchanged so it's totally seamless as far as the manager is concerned.

Question: How will these changes affect the day to day running of the club then?

John: In the short term, there won't be a lot of difference. I guess there's a more strategic view now rather than a tactical one, to use the jargon.

This gives us a little bit more ability to sit back and look at the bigger picture and we've got some very competent and capable people in place. It's nice to try and perhaps be the midfielder in the knowledge you've got a decent goalkeeper behind you.

Question: Was the overall aim to streamline the operation?

John: Not to streamline the executive operation. There are fewer directors now, although we've still got some important non-executive directors in the case of Robert (Coar) and Richard (Matthewman). Robert is an experienced football man and we're delighted to still have him on the board. And Richard provides an on-going link to Jack Walker's family, which I think is important, plus he also has some excellent business contacts that may help us to attract new investors.

The other one, which we shouldn't underestimate, is the appointment of David Brown, who is a trustee in effect and represents the shareholders' interests.

He will assume the role of vice chairman.

Generally speaking, this is a well thought out plan and this is an executive structure that the trustees have used in a lot of their other businesses in the past, although they are aware that football doesn't always follow the pattern of other businesses.

Question: How significant is the decision to promote David given his connections with the trustees? Does this mean they intend to take a more hands-on role?

John: Well, it certainly makes our relationship with the trustees stronger.

In saying that, we shouldn't over-play it. David has been on the board now since Jack's death but if I were a fan on the outside looking in at this then I would see this as a cementing of the relationship between the owners and the club.

Question: Where does this reshuffle leave Rob Coar? After stepping down as chairman, will that affect his status as an FA Councillor, or his role in representing the Premier League on the FA Board?

John: I certainly hope not. Rob has done extremely well and I think it's very good for Blackburn Rovers to have an FA councillor as a board member. He's a member of a number of influential committees and I think that's good for the club. The threshold qualification for that is to be the director of a football club, not necessarily a chief executive, a chairman or a vice chairman, so unless we've slipped up, which I'm sure we haven't, then that has been well preserved.

Question: As the new chairman, what are your own ambitions for the club next season and beyond?

John: We are not just here to make up the numbers, but it's still very difficult.

People continually tell me that the Premier League is a big city set-up, whereas we are a provincial town club and we don't have the same fan base.

The reality is the percentage of the local population that come and support us is still very good and most of these big city clubs would give their right arm to have the same ratio we do.

Blackburn Rovers really is the big brand in our town and we should be proud of that, but it doesn't solve the problem because we are still a town club in the Premier League, and that makes life very hard for us.

That said, there's still every reason to believe we will have a decent season.

What does that mean? Well, the fans hate the word 'consolidation' and we're past that because we've been up for four years now. I prefer to say 'competitive' and we were sixth under Graeme Souness three seasons ago, we've also had a 10th placed finish and a couple of 15ths, so I'm looking to be in the top half in the Premier League table come the end of next season.

Question: Is it no longer realistic then to think you can match the Manchester United's and the Chelsea's of this world?

John: Yes, that's not realistic but on the evidence of last season, I certainly think we can match the Everton's and the Bolton's. What they achieved gives me a lot of heart for the future.

Question: Will the chairman be spending any money this summer on new players?

John: We've just spent some, believe it or not (on Shefki Kuqi), because there's no such thing as a free transfer. They do have to be paid, you know?

In very broad terms, those students of Blackburn Rovers' ins and outs will probably come to the conclusion that there's a bit of money left over from Barry Ferguson's sale to Rangers, although Robbie Savage also arrived at the club at the same time.

So we do have some money to spend, although we are clearly not the club we were in Jack's day and that chapter has long gone.

We're being offered all sorts of players in all sorts of positions and I'm sure there are some good opportunities out there.

But the whole focus, without completely closing your eyes and missing a wonderful full-back on a free for instance, is to bring one more striker in after Shefki.

Then, I think, Mark will feel he's in with a good fighting chance.

Question: Part of your remit for the future is to look for 'new investment opportunities'. What do you mean by that?

John: That means having a sit back and a look at our assets to see where we can raise money, and what we can do centrally with our brand and our naming rights - all sorts of things.

We need to do whatever we can to keep the club competitive in the Premier League.

At the moment, we are running the risk of spending nearly 75 per cent of our turnover on wages, but you either do that and tightly manage everything else, or you start to operate with a more comfortable level of wages to turnover, which is more like 60 to 65 per cent.

However, I believe that would ultimately threaten our Premier League status, no matter how good the manager is, because there is undoubtedly a link between wage bills and league positions.

So we will continue to stretch the coffers and put the money into the playing side, but we will have to find new inventive methods (of bringing in extra revenue).

Question: Does that mean you are actively seeking a Roman Abramovich-style investor then?

John: If the question you're asking is "is there a 'For Sale' signing hanging over Ewood Park?" then the answer is 'no'.

But if it's 'would we consider talking to a Roman Abramovich?' then the answer to that has to be 'yes'.

Question: Finally, you mentioned naming rights. Does that mean you would consider renaming Ewood Park if someone offered to sponsor the ground?

John: Yes, we would but in that event we would have to be extremely careful and balance the need for funds with the rich history and heritage we've got and obviously want to keep.