Rovers reporter Andy Cryer has spoken to John Williams almost every day for the past three years. Here, he argues that the departing chairman should be ranked as a legend.

THE word legend is too often over-used in life but when it comes to John Williams and Blackburn Rovers, there could be no more fitting tribute.

John may not be Blackburn born and bred but, ever since he was brought to the club by Jack Walker 13 years ago, he has put heart, body and soul into preserving ‘Uncle Jack’s’ legacy.

Rovers have universally been known as the Premier League’s best run club for the past decade, and a big reason for that is John’s determination to do the Walker family proud.

Walker, Dalglish, Douglas and Clayton; in years to come the name Williams will sit proudly with these Blackburn greats as someone who has truly made a mammoth contrib-ution to the club’s proud history.

First as chief executive and then as chairman, John may not have been the most popular man all the time as he was charged with the task of keeping Rovers on a stable footing on tight purse strings.

What he did do though was steer Rovers on a steady course to consistent Premier League safety, and much better, an incredible feat when you consider the financial odds he was fighting against.

Jack Walker’s death marked the end of a golden chapter in the club’s history back in 2000 but, with Williams and Tom Finn overseeing things, the last decade will be remembered in years to come as almost as great an achievement.

There may have been no Premier League titles but with the funds drying up – with no money invested after 2006 – John fought tooth and nail to get the best for the football club he had grown to love.

Jack Walker and John Williams may not have spent that long together but a bond had been formed that the Rovers chairman was determined to protect what his old boss had built.

He went about his work quietly but one can only imagine the hours he spent on the phone to the Walker Trust pleading for more funds to take the club forward. A yes man Williams certainly was not.

It is no coincidence that John enjoyed a fine working relationship with all the managers who served under him. Graeme Souness, Mark Hughes and even Sam Allardyce, you could sense the mutual respect.

It became increasingly difficult for John to please his managers as the funds dried up and the financial burden grew ever heavier around Ewood Park.

Rovers continued to achieve the impossible as they comfortably preserved their top flight status year in year out, despite spending a fraction of what their rivals were.

It was these financial limitations that ultimately was to prove his downfall. The club needed to be sold, John knew that and he threw everything into trying to find a suitable buyer.

After more than three years of searching, Venky’s were found and John knew despite the inevitable change that was to follow a sale had to go through to ensure the club’s Premier League future.

For a while there was the hope Williams and Venky’s could work together, after all they did buy the club partly for the way it was already run, but those hopes quickly drained away once reality struck.

The relationship between the owners and adviser Jerome Anderson never sat comfortably with Williams and, with his powers drastically diminishing, the end result was inevitable.

John was not the sort to sit tight, pick up his money and twiddle his thumbs. If there was nothing for him to do, he was too proud a man to continue.

A new era has now very much started and Williams will be the first to wish the club all the best as he fades away into the memory.

But for all who knew him and who have followed the club over the past decade, his name will live long in the memory.

A man of respect and honesty. Blackburn Rovers will miss him.

With John and his flat cap in his customary seat in the directors box, Ewood will always feel like it is missing something.