One of the big stories of the week was Blackburn's attempt to sign the former Ballon d'Or winner Ronaldinho (albeit unsuccessful). My opinion is that he has now burnt out and is surplus to requirements at the San Siro. None of the major clubs across Europe will move for him and the only contribution he would have brought to Blackburn is off-the-field in terms of a commercial windfall in shirts purchased, club merchandise and improved PR. As expected with the new foreign ownership, they will want to invest significantly into the club and demand results straight away. The Venkys' actually want to break into the top four and bring Champions League football to Ewood Park. This is rather unrealistic as Manchester City and Tottenham Hotspur have recently broke into this pack and they had to spent a considerable amount of money to get there, as well as possessing better managers. If Blackburn is to realise their Champions League dream they will need to do the following:
1. Spend like City: Manchester City are now title contenders because they have spent a lot and brought it quality signings like Tevez, Kompany, Silva and the Toure brothers. Along with the signings they have, they are building up a squad to have 2 good players competing for each position. Manchester United and Chelsea enjoyed success and it was mainly due to the heavy spending of buying star players. The Venky Group will have money to spend, but I doubt it will be as extravagant as Manchester City. The likelihood is that they would buy players who have fallen out of favour at a cut price such as Emmanuel Adebayor from Manchester City, Stephen Ireland from Aston Villa and Ryan Babel from Liverpool.
2. Have an excellent manager: The exeception to heavy spending and still be consistently in a good league position is Arsenal. And the reason they are where they are is Arsene Wenger. He is one of the most intelligent and shrewd managers in the world, who has consistently recognised young talent and developed them. However, there is only one Arsene Wenger and not even a lucrative contract from Blackburn will entice the Frenchman away from the Emirates. Chris Hughton, Roy Hodgson and Alan Curbishley are available and are good managers who drive the club forward. But I reckon the new owners would rather have someone with a greater reputation to bring in the big players. A wildcard would be Diego Maradona. He would bring attractive, attacking football and the English media will love his persona and passion. However, a more sensible choice would be Martin O'Neil. He was doing a fantastic job at Aston Villa until his relationship with Randy Lerner had soured. He would thrive with the new challenge and the backing of fresh investment. He can also develop young English talent as seen previously and he could mould Phil Jones into one of the best defenders in the Premiership. Combined with a good assistant manager like Steve Clarke, and Blackburn would have strong management in place.
3. World-class stadium: Investing in a new stadium with a 60,000+ capacity will provide the income required to compete with the big 4. Liverpool recognised this, but no action has followed and are suffering the consequences. But investing a large capacity stadium would be all in vain unless they can fill those seats. Ewood Park struggles to fill its capacity in most games and Blackburn are not an 'attractive' club to support like Manchester United and Chelsea. To resolve this, Blackburn will need to change its image and strategy in developing their fanbase.
4. Stronger support: Blackburn may struggle to become a well-supported club as they do not boast the strong histories such as Manchester United and Liverpool. However in saying that, the new owners are reporting of an increased supportship in India (the origin country of the owners). I believe that India is the untapped market that has not been fully exploited yet. It is only a small section of middle-class Indians who do follow the Premier League. But for a country that boasts a population of more than a billion people, there is the potential for other Premier League clubs and not just Blackburn to develop a strong supporter base, drive the development of football as a national sport and even scout for talent. Manchester United and Chelsea place great efforts in developing their 'brand' in the Far East and in the States, and so Blackburn could do the same in India.
Blackburn have an interesting journey ahead of them and it will be interesting to see if they can realise their owner's ambitions. The Premiership is becoming ever more competitive and the added competition from Blackburn can only be good for the game. However, my prediction for Blackburn is that they will engorge in a spending spree for about a year, and then the bank balance will dry up and the owners will be in a dire financial situation (as seen with West Ham and Portsmouth). Will ambition be the saviour or downfall of Blackburn?
