BLACKBURN ROVERS lost £31.1m last season in their successful bid to get out of the first division and into the Premiership.

The Club reported a trading loss of £12.8m before player trading for the year ending June 30 2001.

After player trading the loss was £31.1m, while turnover for the year grew by 36% from £12.9m to £17.5m.

The Club released the following statement from the annual report: "Following relegation at the end of the 1998/9 season, Mr Jack Walker made it clear he would support the club financially to a level that meant no enforced sales (in effect retaining our Premier League squad) in order to secure an early return to the top flight.

"We failed at the first attempt, but the strategy paid off at the second time of asking with automatic promotion at Deepdale.

"It has been very expensive but we have returned to the Premiership in a better shape, with a young, valuable squad and a more manageable wage bill consistent with our ambition of self-sufficiency.

"We are fit for the future. Our worst estimate of cash losses at operating level for the two years was £30m. The actual cash cost at this level was £26m, a small improvement. "In the first year we mitigated cash losses by the sale of Chris Sutton, but in the second year, we resisted all attempts to lure away our top players, in fact we added to the squad and were rewarded.

"Whether Mr Walker would have carried the losses for a third year we will never know. In any event we may not have been able to retain our best players had we not been promoted.

"Mr Walker's support for Rovers is legendary and nothing illustrates it better than the high risk, high cost strategy of promotion, but the reward is a massive increase in turnover of some £20m per year.

"Now we owe it to him, and to all Rovers' fans, to make sure the club consolidates its position in the Premier League, while at the same time 'washing it's face' financially.

"We believe that over the next three seasons (the duration of the current TV contracts) these twin aims can be achieved.

"We start the period with a strong balance sheet following last year's capitalisation of shareholder loans. Mr Walker's Trustees, our principle shareholder, have confirmed their long-term support for the club."