THERE is still a long way to go to in repairing the relationship between Blackburn Rovers’ owners and the club’s fan base.

But the decision of Venky’s to pen an open letter to fans is a start – and it comes at exactly the right time.

It would be kind to call the first two-and-a-half seasons of the Rao family’s ownership of Rovers as tumultuous.

But there is no question that the current campaign has brought an air of relative calm to Ewood Park.

There has been no boardroom infighting, no hiring and firing of managers, and the result has been a season of progress, particularly on the pitch.

So much so that Rovers’ supporters can look forward to the 2014-15 campaign with hope.

Now there is a train of thought that the Venky’s should have stayed quiet; that their silence has hardly hampered Gary Bowyer and the promising side he has built in the last 12 months.

But that would be to completely forgot that we, both fans and the Lancashire Telegraph, have been pleading with the Rao family to open the lines of communication.

And, with the release of the letter, they have done that.

The content will not satisfy all supporters, supporters who remain rightly concerned about the financial challenges that the club face.

But Rovers’ owners do say they are ‘deeply sorry’ for not being able to bring success to the club; they do admit they have learned valuable and costly lessons, and they do reaffirm that their commitment will not waiver.

These were messages that the fans needed to hear – and needed to hear directly from Venky’s.

Now one letter does not mean that all bridges have been rebuilt – far from it.

But it is a start, and an encouraging one.