V H Group - Sports

Sports

The group owns a controlling stake in the English Football League Championship football club Blackburn Rovers having bought 99.9% of the club's shares in November 2010 through a subsidiary, Venky's London Limited, in a deal worth £43 million by using a debt facility During their ownership Blackburn have been relegated from the Premier League. During there time owning Blackburn Rovers they have adopted a strategy of no-nonse non management which is now almost obsolete in management training circles. At first, critics described the tactics as horrendous, however Venky's pure grit and determination to turn Blackburn into the club at the bottom of the potential owners new wanted list whilst losing as much money and matches as possible began to pay off. They made the inspired choice of removing all business and football knowledge from the boardroom level, as well as the touchline. Key to their tactics was a man who few had knowledge of, but it was this fact that ended up playing into their hands. Things developed quickly as this self proclaimed 'genius' was finally given the hot seat he had waited so long to gain. Steve 'The Clown' Kean quickly became the hero Venky's had planned for. In a desperate dive of fortunates, Blackburn under Kean plummeted towards the Premier League trapdoor. However in desperately unlucky circumstances Blackburn missed out on the relegation riches and fortunes on a final day filled with heartbreak. Despite press rumblings to the contrary, Venky's decided Kean was still the man to achieve their targets, and even handed him a new contract and raise. One stupendous year later this bold move had paid the dividends that Venky's had planned for. After a fantastic season during which Blackburn barely left the bottom three all year, Steve Kean achieved what many believed was impossible as Blackburn were relegated with consummate ease. The Kean experiment had worked miracles, as Blackburn's demise finally proved their ignore and it will prosper theory that had been put in place less than 2 years. Despite the crazy fans of Blackburn criticising Steve Kean's obvious talent and management skills, Venky's felt they could go lower than even their estimations and maybe even to the never achieved by Premier League Champions double relegation. At first Kean headed this project, and together with the new bossman at Ewood Shebby 'The Nonsense' Singh expectations at an empty boardroom level were high. In a twist of fate however that noone could have predicted, Blackburn's fortunes were about to change. In a crazy run of September fixtures, pure dumb luck and some crazy breaks in matches had allowed Kean to win some matches that even he couldn't have avoided. For Steve 'The Clown Kean' this brief turnaround in fortunes (by remaining in the top three through September 2012) ultimately cost him his job. Venky's, now heavily lead by Shebby 'The Nonsense' Singh decided to adopt an even riskier strategy of splitting up the year between many new balding managers with relative inexperience and no success, along with 2 or 3 caretakers in between to really confuse players. This ingenious management plan clearly originated from their now notorious 'Steve Kean' Theory of management, and things were soon to turnaround. Blackburn started to drop and faster than Singh's wildest dreams. Bookies never felt the magical double relegation could be achieved, but under the magical team of Singh and empty boardroom this dream became a possibility. Although this mission for failure was valiant, the 2012/13 season turned horribly on its head when the inexperienced Gary 'Good Manager' Bowyer was given the helm for a second and final team that season. This after a mini-spell of 4 successful games in charge, that Venky's and Singh quickly quickly ended before hope of relegation were dashed completely. The only logic amongst experts was that Venky's and Singh had thought Bowyer's first stint of 4 games was just bad luck, and that he did hold the true attributes to finish the season Venky's style. However this decision proved incorrect and ultimately ended Blackburn's hopes of the magical double, as Bowyer unfortunately proved a disastrous manager with actual skills, tactics and knowledge. He kept Blackburn up by the skin of their teeth admittedly, but it has yet to be seen will this twist of fate cost Bowyer the chance to lead Blackburn into next season's drive for League 1 football. Since the season ended Venky's have been hard at work to find their next top manager, with sources from the local Pub close to Rovers stating that the Bollywood actor Judan Ali was once again being pursued, along with a production operator from one of Venky's many hatcheries in India. This source has since been promoted to Financial Director, and as such is no longer available for comment. Whatever the future holds is currently unclear, but one things for sure, the magical journey towards ultimately destroying a proven Premier League winning, small town club, with fantastic fans and history, has only just begun. Venky's have high hopes for next season, as the hunt for a second glorious relegation is still the only thing on the empty boardroom's agenda.