Venky's pledge bright future

Blackburn's new Indian owners have promised to deliver a bright future after completing their takeover of the Ewood Park club.

Poultry firm Venky's on Friday finalised their purchase of the 99.9% shareholding of the Jack Walker Trust for £23million. Venky's, a hugely successful business run by the Rao family, initially spoke last month of setting only modest, realistic targets for Rovers but they are determined to maximise potential and maintain tradition.

Venkateshwara Rao, joint managing director, said: "We are all truly honoured to be working with such an historic club and are committed to creating a long-term financial platform which the club can use to realise its obvious potential on and off of the field."

He added: "It is as a team that this club has succeeded in the past and it is as a team that this club will achieve great things in the future."

Some reports have put the total value of the deal at £43million, taking into account club debts which will be paid off.

The club's existing management structure, including chairman John Williams, will be retained.

Manager Sam Allardyce has welcomed news of the takeover and is expecting investment in the team, but he accepts he will have to spend shrewdly.

Allardyce said: "You've got to keep to the reality.

"People will go off mentioning we're after Torres or Drogba but in terms of investment, rather than huge sums of money, it will be relatively moderate.

"We will improve the squad but we will have to be diligent in our research to get the right player and spend the money wisely."