The Venky’s do not want to sell Blackburn Rovers and there have been no offers to buy the club, according to Suhail Shaikh and Steve Waggott.
Chief operating officer Shaikh says the ownership want to “support us in the best possible way” despite the feeling from a significant portion of the fanbase.
When asked if the Venky’s were aware of calls to walk away and sell the club, he told Radio Lancashire: “I can’t answer the question because obviously they are the owners of the club and we follow.
“The last time myself and Steve spoke (with them), they didn’t want to sell the football club. In fact, I think they want to support us in the best possible way which they have been.
“It is a question for them to answer but like I said, we have asked the question to see what best we can try and do.
“We have been there in the last four years. The last season before Tony Mowbray left, we ended up eighth. When Jon Dahl Tomasson came in, we went up to seventh in the first year and just missed the play-offs with goal difference.
“Obviously, it has been difficult because of the restrictions in the 2023/24 season but if you had asked our fans at the start of this season where they expect (to finish), most of the fans would say we’d get relegated but here we are sitting just five points off the play-offs.
“It is a question for them to answer. We are more than happy for them to come and be part of it, but I think the fans need to also appreciate that we have owners who are backing us.”
Shaikh was also quizzed about whether the Venky’s could travel over from India to attend games in person at Ewood Park.
“I hope, we always speak to them,” he added. “Covid has been difficult, I used to fly every three months to see them and now I go once every six months or year.
“We do more FaceTime and more meetings on Zoom and Teams. They do watch the games, obviously they don’t get happy when we lose games as well.
“I’m sure the fans don’t think that or that they’re not watching, they watch the games and we get updates. Obviously, the last four games have been very difficult for everybody.”
Chief executive Waggott was then asked whether he sees the owners still being at the club in the long term.
“Another great question that’s hard to answer,” he replied. “The way it stands, I can’t see them going any time soon.
“If there was interest from another investor who put a legitimate, fully fledged offer in that covered their time at the club that they felt was reasonable and fair…
“It is just like a footballer, every player is up for sale so clubs are up for sale, but to try and sell a club is a fairly difficult process.”
Waggott confirmed there had been no “concrete offers” to purchase the club during his seven-and-a-half years in the role.
“I haven’t seen anything. Like I said, it is a £20million-plus funding operation every year,” Shaikh added.
“There are very few clubs, in my opinion which I am sure Steve would also back, who will get £20m on a benefactor model from the owners.
“We’d need somebody with real hard cash who is going to come in and say, ‘OK, this is the plan’ because we burn £20m every year in terms of operations and then the transfers fees.”
