Rovers post after player sales profit

Blackburn Rovers have been able to record an annual pre-tax profit of £4.3 million.

The news isn't quite as gleaming than at first glance as the figure is largely boosted by a huge player sales that includes the big money sales of Chris Samba and Phil Jones.

Those sales, along with the departures of Niko Kalinic and Yakubu heavily outweighed the expenditure on the likes of David Goodwillie, Scott Dann, Yakubu (again) and Simon Vukcevic... who we are pleased to confirm is still alive.

The club has transferred all of it's banking facilities from Barclays, with whom Venky's had a strained relationship, over to the Bank of India - which has allowed for Venky's to fix certain aspects of the business against their own stockhold and assets.

Elsewhere, turnover was down from just over £57m to around £54m and commercial revenue was down, mainly due to not having an actual paying sponsor last season.

What the latest figures do show is that running a football club is a huge strain on the resources of a parent company, but Venky's did release a statement with the accounts (for the second year running) that they would continue to fund Rovers where potential deficits may exist... more than likely ones that can't be covered via player sales.

The statement read - "The company will require significant funding in addition to the current facilities available to the company.

"The directors have received confirmation from the ultimate parent company (Venkateshwara Hatcheries Pvt Ltd) that it has sufficient funds and is willing to provide such additional financing, as may be required to fund BRFC to the extent necessary for the company to continue to trade and to pay its liabilities as and when they become due.

"The directors have also considered the potential impact on the company`s cash flows were BRFC not to regain its FA Premier League status and have identified mitigating actions that would manage the cash flow requirements of the company in such circumstances, and in any event have received confirmation of support from its ultimate parent company."

The next set of balance sheets (2012-2013) should make for interesting reading what with the extra spending that has surprisingly come about after relegation. The big push is on to try and get promoted again, it will be interesting to see how far that statement stretches.

Furthermore the club have confirmed that after the balance sheets were released, the club has actually SPENT some money on transfers - with the purchase Jordan Rhodes in particular outweighing any of the fees received for the likes of Yakubu and Steven 'hissy fit' N'Zonzi.

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