Claim made as the Venkys make Blackburn Rovers breakthrough - 'fingers crossed' | OneFootball

FLW's Blackburn Rovers fan pundit doesn't know what to expect from the club in the summer transfer market, even after the Venkys success in court

After close to three years of investigation by the Indian Ministry of Finance, Blackburn Rovers' ownership group, the Venkys, has had its funding restrictions eased.

The Venkys were under investigation due to alleged offences by the parent company of Venky's London Limited, the company that owns Blackburn, due to complaints surrounding a property bought by the owners to stay in while they attended games at Ewood Park.

The investigation into their parent company is still ongoing, but the Lancashire Telegraph have reported that the Court of Delhi ruled that their restrictions on overseas investment have been lifted.

With the new Squad Cost Ratio rulings coming into play next season, Blackburn, like everyone else, is locked into spending no more than 85% of their revenue on the playing squad and manager anyway, but the ruling means that the £33 million owner funding over a three-year period that club owners can invest in can now happen at Ewood Park.

Ultimately, though, that's up to the Venkys discretion, and questions will still be asked about whether the Blackburn owners will be willing to spend to improve the squad this summer.

Blackburn Rovers fan pundit debates whether the Venkys will invest after the funding restrictions are removed

The first port of call this summer at Ewood Park is to hire a new manager, after Michael O'Neill opted to remain as Northern Ireland boss after juggling the roles in the final months of the campaign.

That decision was punctuated with a new contract for the Northern Irishman, extending his time with the Green and White Army to 2032.

It was a gut-punch of a reveal, especially given reports in the lead-up to O'Neill's decision stated that he was keen to drop his international job for a full-time role back in domestic football at Ewood Park. Nevertheless, it means that Blackburn need a new man in the dugout soon.

Then, the question will be whether the Venkys will be backing him sufficiently in the summer transfer window, a question that FLW's Rovers fan pundit, Simon Middlehurst, doesn't know the answer to.

"Who knows, to be honest," he said. "Even before restrictions were put in place, they weren't exactly great at investing.

"You'd like to think after last season, where we just saved ourselves from relegation, you'd like to think they'd back us, invest and add quality, but you never know what's going to happen.

"Fingers crossed that there is a bit more investment and some more quality will be added, but only time will tell; anyone's guess is as good as mine."

Blackburn Rovers will definitely need some financial help this summer

With the play-offs expanding to six teams from next season, too, there'll be ownership groups of perennial mid-table sides, who would usually be targeted by teams such as Blackburn to drag into a relegation scrap, but instead will be investing to try and get into the reformed top eight.

Therefore, with the quality of the league growing overall, Rovers need to be careful that they are not left behind.

The Lancashire Telegraph states that Blackburn's revenue is amongst the bottom third of Championship clubs, meaning that they automatically will have less money to spend, compared to some of their peers.

So, the ability for the Venkys to inject money into the club could be huge in not only helping Blackburn steer towards mid-table and perhaps be looked at as outsiders for the play-offs, but also to stop them from going the other way and falling into League One.