Blackburn Council calls for talks over Rovers 'chaos'

Venky's Directors: Balaji Rao and Venkatesh Rao

The leader of Blackburn Council has written to the owners of Blackburn Rovers calling for urgent talks over "the chaos surrounding the club".

Kate Hollern said she had sent a letter to Venky's Anuradha Desai because of "growing concerns" about the club.

Ms Hollern said: "I am concerned about the image of the town and about the lack of leadership at the club."

The club has not made a comment on the contents of the letter.

Ms Hollern's actions follows fans' protests and sponsors' frustrations at the running of the bottom-placed Premiership club - who have won only one league game this season.

'Precarious position'

Wayne Child, director of WEC Group one of the club's main sponsors, recently talked of "a gulf growing" between the owners and fans.

The leader of the Labour-led authority said she decided to send the letter after being contacted by a number of residents.

In it, she invited the owners to meet with the council "to discuss the present problems being experienced at the club".

It states: "There appears to be serious communication problems between the club and its stakeholders which are fuelling the frustration that people are feeling.

"To that end I am inviting you and the other owners to meet with the council... to explore and agree better lines of communications and to get a better understanding of the approach that the owners intend to take to ensure the club goes forward."

She adds: "Given the precarious position the club is now in, a meeting at the earliest opportunity would be preferred."

The council leader said the club has yet to acknowledge her correspondence.

Venky's bought Rovers in November 2010. They sacked manager Sam Allardyce within a month of taking ownership of the club, appointing coach Steve Kean as manager.