• Demise met with apathy despite club having Indian owners
• India Football Federation's vice-president criticises Venky's
As Blackburn Rovers supporters in Lancashire awoke on Tuesday struggling to cope with the club's relegation from the Premier League, there was little sympathy to be found on the streets of India, the home of the club's owners.
In a country of 1.2 billion cricket fans, there was hardly any excitement around the poultry giant Venky's £23m takeover of Blackburn in 2010 and the same aloofness greeted their relegation following Monday's 1-0 home defeat to Wigan Athletic.
"I don't care about them – didn't like them as a team much and [having] Indian owners don't change that. Reasonably satisfied they're gone," Abhishek Iyer, an engineering student in Rajasthan, said.
The India Football Federation vice-president, Subrata Dutta, echoed a similar sentiment. "Venky's have not invested in Indian football ... apart from one exhibition match between Pune FC and the club, Blackburn Rovers have in no way contributed to Indian football," he said. "So we are not bothered about their relegation.
"I don't think they have served our purpose or even their purpose. Being a Pune-based company, I would have been happy if they would have invested in Pune FC rather than Blackburn Rovers."
Bhaswar Goswami, the executive director of Celebrity Management Group, feels Venky's never made a real effort to engage the fans either in England or in India.
"I feel they did not have the proper marketing strategy," he said. "There was no real effort to connect with the huge number of Indian soccer fans. They once came to play in Pune but it was not enough.
"Even to the fans in Lancashire, they lacked a clear vision. They have to take the fans there in confidence. There is a strong emotional attachment to the club and Venky's need to honour that. They have to tell the fans where the club is heading."
Goswami, whose company organised a friendly between Argentina and Venezuela in Kolkata last year, believes Venky's will not look to sell the club despite facing Championship football next season.
"Selling the club is the easiest way to get out of the trouble. But as an Indian business entity, I expect them to stick around. To leverage something from a club like Rovers, it has to be a long-term plan. They need to look at it differently. I still believe it can be a fantastic property if you have a concrete plan for the next five to six years."
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