How wealthy the Blackburn Rovers owners are compared to the EFL's richest clubs | OneFootball

We looked at how the wealth of Blackburn Rovers' owners compares to some of the EFL's richest clubs.

It is fair to say that it has been a turbulent 14 years for Blackburn Rovers since their takeover by the Venky's.

The Indian poultry giants bought Blackburn from the Walker Trust for a reported £23 million in November 2010, and shortly after arriving at the club, they made the shock decision to sack manager Sam Allardyce, replacing him with Steve Kean.

That was a sign of the controversy that was to come under Rovers' new owners, and they were relegated from the Premier League in 2012 under Kean's guidance after an 11-year stay in the top flight.

Years of managerial instability in the Championship followed, resulting in relegation to League One in 2017, but thankfully for Blackburn supporters, they were able to bounce back to the second tier at the first attempt.

Rovers' fortunes have improved on the pitch in recent years, but three managers - Tony Mowbray, Jon Dahl Tomasson and John Eustace - have all left the club after feeling that they had not been backed by the owners, and significant discontent remains towards the Venky's from the fan base.

The Venky's have been back in the spotlight in the last few weeks after Eustace walked out on the club to join relegation-threatened Derby County, and as supporters protest against them once again, we looked at how their net worth compares to the EFL's richest clubs.

The Venky's net worth and how they made their fortune

The Venkateshwara Hatcheries Group is a company with headquarters in the west Indian city of Pune, and they own multiple businesses across numerous different countries, mainly in Asia and Europe, but they are best known for their involvement in the poultry farming industry.

Founded in 1971, the V H Group initially started out as a hatchery for poultry, but they now have research and breeding farms across India, and they have also extended their reach to Vietnam, Bangladesh, Singapore and, more recently, Switzerland.

As the company has grown, the V H Group have produced a range of products, including processed foods and animal vaccines, as well as human and animal pharmaceutical products, and they now have offices and production plants in a range of countries across the globe.

Shortly after completing their purchase of Blackburn, the company reportedly paid around £130 million to purchase a Swiss vaccine plant, while they also started their own fast-food chain called Venkys Xprs, which specialises in chicken, and the first branch opened in Pune in December 2010.

In an article in The News revealing the wealth of Championship owners, the Venky's were said to have a net worth of £1.56 billion, but they are not able to spend as much as they would like on the club, and after they were advised by the Indian government to reduce overseas investment, Rovers' budget was cut by 20% last summer.

Such is the vast wealth of the Venky's, only four clubs in the Championship are believed to have owners with a higher net worth than Blackburn.

Surprisingly, Queens Park Rangers are the richest club in the second tier, with their owners believed to have a combined net worth of around £15 billion.

The exact wealth of those on the R's board is unclear, but co-owner Amit Bhatia has access to the fortune of his father-in-law Lakshmi Mittal, who is believed to be worth almost £14 billion, while the family of fellow investor Ruben Gnanalingam are worth £1.26 billion.

Leeds United are next on the Championship rich list, with Denise DeBartolo York and family, who own 49ers Enterprises, thought to be worth $6.7 billion (£5.3 million).

Stoke City are the third-wealthiest club in the division, with the Coates family estimated to be worth £3.1 billion, followed by Bristol City, whose owner Steve Lansdown reportedly has a fortune of £1.72 billion.

While Blackburn may be in the Championship, there are three clubs in League One who have owners with a higher net worth than the Venky's.

Birmingham City are owned by Knighthead Capital Management, who reportedly manage around $9 billion (£7.25 billion) of assets, while chairman Tom Wagner is estimated to have a personal wealth of around $1.6 billion (£1.34 billion), and investor Tom Brady is said to be worth around $300m (£252 million), giving the Blues' hierarchy a combined net worth of just under £9 billion.

Barnsley owners International Investment Consortium, a group headed by Chien Lee, are believed to have a net worth of £6.9 billion, while Mikhail Lomtadze, who owns promotion-chasing Wycombe Wanderers, has a fortune of $5.8 billion (£4.6 billion).