UNDER-fire Blackburn Rovers boss Steve Kean is adamant Venky’s are “100 per cent” the right owners for the club – after claiming “exciting times” are ahead despite their Premier League drop.
The Ewood Park outfit is surrounded in chaos as the Asian poultry giants continue to greet a disastrous relegation with silence, but Kean was insistent there are still reasons to be positive.
Rovers gave the impression of being in meltdown yesterday, with no-one at the club able to confirm whether deputy chief executive Paul Hunt had left or not following his explosive letter written in December calling for Kean to be sacked being leaked.
The Rovers boss and Venky’s have been the subject of huge anger from supporters, having taken the club from mid-table to relegation in 18 months.
But, despite mounting pressure for change at Ewood, Kean was insistent the new regime was here to stay.
When asked are they the right owners for the club, Kean said: “Yes, 100 per cent.
“We have taken a massive step backward step but we have to look forward. I am sure we can get back at the first time of asking. The owners are not going anywhere, I am not going anywhere.
“Every time I have spoken to them they have told me categorically that they are in it for the long-term.
“They feel emotionally bonded with the club.They want to get the club back to the level it should be at – and beyond as soon as possible.
“It is changing time for the club. We have new owners, I am new into the job myself. We are moving forward and it is going to be a very exciting time for the club.”
Venky’s silence has been deafening about their plans for the club virtually ever since they bought Rovers from the Walker Trust.
Hunt’s leaked letter, written in December, even wrote of financial problems and the need for more investment but Kean says the club is now more stable than it has been for a long time.
Kean said: “The club was in a financial position where I don’t think it was the most stable. Now we’re in a very stable financial position – what we’ve not got, we’ve not got premiership football “I think this is really disappointing because we wanted to make sure at least we could take it to the last game and make a real good effort from it. But its not to be so we just need to move forward.
“I think there’s been challenging times – we’ve lost a lot of experienced players there’s been a total change within the club as far as what was in place for a number of years with the trust owning the club and lots of directors that have now since gone so it's a changing time.
“But what we’ve got to do now is look at where we are as a club and say ‘we don’t belong here, we make sure from the 1st new player that comes into the building that it's a player that can move us in the right direction.
“I've had support from the owners every day. Up until the transfer window closed we talked on a regular basis but then when the transfer window closed we'd speak on the phone. They've supported me all the way through.”
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