Businessman aims to establish fan trust

Businessman Wayne Wild has outlined a plan for a Blackburn Rovers fan trust to be established and lead a supporters led takeover of Blackburn Rovers from current owners Venky’s.

Venky’s behaviour in charge of Blackburn Rovers since their November 2010 acquisition has been nothing short of disgraceful and has led to a fans revolt and mass cry for them to sell the club to a more committed party.

The first signs of tangible interest in the club have been shown from an unnamed local business consortium outlined in yesterday’s Sunday People and now in the form of a Wild led takeover consortium.

The idea is that 10,000 shares are sold to fans at a £1,000 a time and for the fans to then elect a committee to run the club and give the club back to the faithful – as is the case with clubs like Barcelona, Real Madrid and pretty much all German clubs.

The idea is in line with a proposal drawn up by Swedish financial expert and Rovers fan Daniel Grabko who has been on Vital recently answering some questions about the plan.

Mr Wild told the Lancashire Telegraph – “It`s at the very early stages.”

“It would probably be after the end of the season until we could do anything, once we can see what the situation is.

“We have to be realistic and, if the club stay in the Premier League, Venky`s will probably think the club is still worth what they paid for it, and we wouldn`t be able to raise £30m.

“We had a good result against QPR but it`s three teams from five at the bottom.

“If the club is relegated will Venky`s still be interested in the club? It could go into decline.

“The club wouldn`t be worth anything so this would offer Venky`s a dignified way out because at the moment they haven`t got one.

“There`s no white horse man coming in to save Rovers right now.

“The £10m wouldn`t be towards buying the club but helping to deal with the debts.

“Could we raise £10m? Possibly. It`s about asking people now would they be interested in getting involved in this.

“There have been a few rumours about people being interested in takeovers but the only people you are likely to get interested are people who think they can make money out of it, wanting to buy it cheap and get a return on their investment.

“This wouldn`t be about getting any return on investment, this would be about giving the club back to the supporters.

“There would be no big shareholder, the supporters would own the club and a committee would be set up.

“I know Blackburn is not a wealthy town and £1,000 is a lot of money, but it`s probably half of a good holiday.

“If Venky`s say they won`t sell then we can`t force them to do, but we want to offer them a way out.”