"Very worrying" - Bleak Blackburn Rovers future predicted amid £17.2m Adam Wharton reveal | OneFootball

Our Rovers fan pundit is worried about the club's future after their 2023/24 accounts were recently disclosed

This article is part of Football League World's 'Terrace Talk' series, which provides personal opinions from our FLW Fan Pundits regarding the latest breaking news, teams, players, managers, potential signings and more...

FLW's Blackburn Rovers fan pundit has expressed his concern at the club's financial situation due to the lack of sellable assets in the current squad compared to years gone by, when the departures of Sammie Szmodics and Adam Wharton have been able to put them in profit in the yearly accounts.

Rovers have been owned by the V H Group, aka 'the Venky's' since 2010, and the club have experienced some tough times in the years since due to a lack of proper financial backing and uncertainty over their future.

The club has been consistently posting losses in their accounts over the last 11 seasons, but the £18 million sale of Wharton to Crystal Palace last January has seen them record a £3.3m profit in their latest set of public figures, up to the end of June 2024.

That is a rare positive to take from the Venky's mismanagement since their 2010 arrival, but questions have now been raised over whether it is a sustainable practice to rely on departures to put the club in profit, given that they would have lost a further £17.2m without the 21-year-old's exit.

Blackburn Rovers owners the Venky's questioned amid concerns over future finances

Rovers' dependence on player sales has been pretty well-publicised in recent times, with it being a major factor as to why they are so eager to fast-track academy products into their first-team.

The Venky's way of operating has also seen managers such as Jon Dahl Tomasson and John Eustace leave their posts suddenly due to being dissatisfied with the lack of finances available.

The club is expected to post similar figures to this year for 2024/25, with Sammie Szmodics' £9m sale to Ipswich Town and a further amount from Wharton's sale seemingly set to put them in the black once again.

Despite the outlook being deemed as healthy for this year and the next, our Rovers fan pundit, Simon Middlehurst, has expressed his concern at the club's potential future finances, due to the lack of players in the current squad that could be sold on for similarly sizeable fees.

“These are ongoing questions that fans are always directing at the owners, due to them not investing much money, or investing the bare minimum to keep us going,” Simon told FLW.

“In the past we’ve had Sammie Szmodics, Adam Wharton, and then obviously David Raya’s sell-on as well. It’s a little bit worrying what the club are going to do.

“If you look at the current squad, a lot of the players are out of contract in the summer as well. The club will probably be looking to not renew a lot of them contracts, to try and balance the books.

“Also as well, if you look at the academy and how many of those players have looked to move on to bigger clubs, like they have done previously, with Ashley Phillips an example, and Rory Finneran last year too, who went to Newcastle.

“It is very, very worrying with Blackburn, and what is going to happen next with regards to money and what the owners are going to do to try and keep us afloat, basically.”

Blackburn Rovers are set to struggle financially without major player sales

Rovers were tipped to struggle in the Championship this season, but John Eustace was able to perform minor miracles with his squad to get them into the play-off chase before his shock departure to join Derby County last month.

A lot of their struggles would dissipate if they were able to spring a surprise and return to the Premier League after 13 years away this season, but that does look less likely to happen now, after his exit, and they could face a really uncertain financial future in the second-tier without a high-profile sale such as Wharton or Szmodics.

Football finance expert Kieran Maguire gave his view on the club's current monetary outlook in an interview with BBC Radio Lancashire this week, and his opinion does not make good reading for fans of the club.

Maguire said: “The club is losing a lot of money. On a day to day basis, it has lost just shy of £400,000 per week and that is par for the course as far as Rovers are concerned.

“What stood out this year was the sale of Sammie (Szmodics) and Wharton, they dug the club out of a hole. On the back of that, it converted the losses into just about a break-even point.

“It shows how difficult it is to operate in the Championship. Rovers have got a competitive wage budget, not one which is going to knock everyone else out of the water.

“The club has also got to compete with those who have parachute payments who have just come down from the Premier League.

“Very modest investment in players and ultimately, it is the budget which is set by the Venky’s which determined what is being spent on a year by year basis.”

It is pretty clear that the Venky's are banking on a new prospect emerging in their first-team soon, or a current senior player having a Szmodics-like campaign to be able to sell them on for big money like they have in the recent past.

That would be all well and good if it did happen, but would still raise questions about the club's sustainability without player sales, as well as their ambition to actually try and keep their best players to stage a proper attempt at a return to the top-flight.