The Venky’s promise machine is back in full swing

Rovers director Vineeth Rao has assured fans this morning that Chris Samba’s departure will be the last of the key players to leave Rovers.

Samba left Rovers rather abruptly last week to Russian side Anzhi and to make matters worse a Daily Mirror article was published a few days later detailing plans to move out other more valuable stars such as Steve N’Zonzi and Scott Dann in the summer to reduce the wage bill and raise funds.

But the man charged with running the club from England has stepped out to reassure fans (ed -yes I know) that there are no plans to move on anyone else other than those deemed surplus to requirements.

Rao told the Lancashire Telegraph when asked about rumours of further sales in the summer – “There are no plans like that there, that is ridiculous. There are no plans to sell any more key players, why would there be? Our immediate focus is on staying up in the Premier League.

“We hope Chris Samba will be the last key departure. There are no plans to sell any more key players because we want to improve the squad.

“We want to add to the squad and improve it, not sell the players we have got. We are not planning on selling any more key players.”

*”It was not even our intention to sell Chris Samba, we did not want to sell him.

“We wanted him on the pitch because he has been a big player but in the end we had to respect his wishes because he wanted to leave.

“We had to respect his wishes. He has played for Blackburn for five years and has been a very important player.”*

I can translate the quotes in between the stars if anyone needs a handy guide to media talk.

Here goes…

‘We needed the money from the Samba sale more than anything as the club owes Barclays a fair few millions.

As a result we needed to raise rather urgent funds as spending our own money is not an option.’