CROWN Paints will not be on the front of Blackburn Rovers’ shirts next season after the firm decided to end its £5million sponsorship deal.

The Darwen company, which has sponsored Rovers since 2008, said it had made the ‘difficult’ decision after reviewing its ‘growth strategy’.

The move comes less than 24 hours after the Lancashire Telegraph revealed the resignation of Rovers chairman John Williams, one of the main architects of the deal.

But yesterday, Crown chief executive Brian Davidson said the decision not to renew the contract was unrelated to Mr Williams’ abrupt exit.

He said: “This is a decision we reached a couple of weeks ago, before we knew about John Williams.

“The sponsorship has been an excellent partnership for us but in order to move forward we decided not to renew it.

“The deal has been good for Crown and good for Rovers, and I would like to thank the club.”

A Crown statement expressed ‘disappointment’ at Mr Williams’ departure and added: “He was an incredibly respected chairman and admired by so many people, both on a local and a national level.”

Last month, Crown said it had yet to decide whether or not to renew its Rovers deal.

However, it is understood that bosses at the firm had not held any meetings with new Rovers owner Venky’s about renewing.

It is thought the new owners are interested in exploring commercial deals tied into Indian market.

Simon Williams, head of commercial and marketing at BRFC, said: “We have enjoyed a very good relationship with Crown Paints and would like to thank them for their support and hope that they remain a close friend of the club next season. We plan to discuss our on-going relationship in the very near future.

“However, in this final year of the agreement they had not indicated that they would renew the shirt sponsorship and, as such, we have pursued, through appointed agents, a successor across global markets.”