Question and answer with Blackburn Rovers deputy chief executive Paul Hunt

Here, Rovers’ deputy chief executive Paul Hunt delivers the club’s answers to try and clear up a number of issues...

Protests at recent home games have done little to enhance either the club’s reputation within football or potentially the drive for points on the field. What is the club stance going forward?

Paul Hunt: Obviously, we hope to see an end to protests at Ewood Park. As you quite rightly say, the protests can work against us and we need to pull ourselves up the Barclays Premier League table.

The initial decision to allow protestors back in the ground after recent games was based around safety and only taken after detailed discussions with the police who provided us with high-level intelligence information.

We have continued dialogue and are currently arranging to meet with a group of supporters to bring about the end of the protests.

Now we want to do everything we can to grow attendances, hence the move to launch ‘The Treble’ – a ticket offer which is giving fans the opportunity to see three home games (Swansea, West Bromwich Albion and Bolton Wanderers) for just £20.

We had 4,000 fans take up the offer in advance of the Swansea win last weekend and we have kept the offer open for the following two crucial games.

We hope that everyone with Blackburn Rovers at heart will get firmly behind the team in every game; to be able to display a totally united front in fighting for the common cause. This is not just important, it is essential.

With a year under new ownership, do Venky’s feel they have fulfilled all the commitments when they took over?

PH: When the new owners first took charge they pledged to build a successful and sustainable club and that commitment remains unchanged.

Clearly, it was never going to be possible to deliver on every level inside the first 12 months, this was never a short-term plan.

There is a great deal of movement away from the public eye as any company would undertake and major takeovers inevitably lead to change in personnel and direction.

The owners are passionate about BRFC and have an unswerving desire to see the club prosper both on and off the field.

How come the owners are not seen regularly at Ewood Park?

PH: Clearly with a global business with 160-plus business units across the world, it is going to be difficult for them personally to attend the games at Ewood Park.

Having said that, representatives of the owners attend almost all matches.

This includes family friend and director Vineeth Rao.

As with other non-UK owners of clubs, our owners watch every game on television and have gone to great personal expense to ensure that all Rovers games are relayed into their homes.

Of course, we hope to see more of them at Ewood in the coming months but I can assure everyone that absence definitely makes the owners’ hearts grow fonder!

Who are the senior executive team that runs Blackburn Rovers?

PH: I joined the board as deputy chief executive (and chairman of the board of directors) in June having worked for Bolton Wanderers, Wigan Athletic and Leicester City previously.

Simon Hunt has joined as sporting director, following previous similar roles most notably at West Bromwich Albion.

Simon is also a former player, manager, assistant manager and coach.

Karen Silk has joined the club as finance director.

Having worked for Stoke City, she brings to the club a high level of experience on the finance side and has already instigated some great initiatives.

Non-executive directors representing the owners have been added to the board.

Mahesh Gupta and Gandhi Babu attend the board meetings and support the business largely from their base in India, whilst Vineeth Rao has taken up an executive director role.

Robert Coar has remained as a director and his previous experience of being chairman of the club has been invaluable to support the new directors and owners.

As you can see, the club has a vast range of experience in all key positions.

Should the need arise, I am sure the owners would look to bring in additional personnel.

What is the strategy to develop the Blackburn Rovers and Venky’s brands in both the UK and abroad?

PH: Our recent trip to India proved beyond any doubt that there is massive interest in Premier League football and with us having Indian owners we clearly have what might be termed a competitive advantage in that territory and potentially throughout Asia.

We were the first top-flight club to visit India and play a fixture there and the reaction from the public – and the media – was extraordinary.

In addition to the historic game, the RoverStar programme had its launch with children from all over India invited to take part in a football competition with the finals being held during the visit.

The players joined the teams and the event will spawn more similar events in the future as the successful programme develops across Asia. As you may have seen in recent press, we are currently assisting the owners in creating a youth Academy in Pune.

We continue to look closely at what else can be achieved there with a view to using that opportunity as a template for other territories.

The overarching aim for this part of the strategy is for India to adopt Blackburn Rovers as “India’s Premier League team” and we would have the potential for one billion fans coming to Ewood!

Having this sort of further global appeal can only help our on-going work in developing the brand here in the UK.

Why is there a lack of response to emails sent to people within the club?

PH: This is a puzzling question, but one that’s easy to answer.

We would like to make it clear that we respond to all correspondence sent to us at Ewood Park.

We stick closely to the terms of our Customer Charter with staff deployed to ensure anyone writing in gets the fullest answer possible in the shortest possible time.

There are, of course, occasions when we may choose to ring the correspondent rather than respond over the internet.

We have been disappointed that in some cases people have gone ‘public’ (written to national newspapers etc) on private emails sent to them in good faith.

What is most important, three points or the customer?

PH: A bit like do you want the team to play well or win, the short answer is BOTH!

No-one can ever be entirely happy when the team isn’t winning games as this is, after all, a results-driven business.

That said, we put great value and importance on our customers.

Supporters are the bedrock of any football club and BRFC is no different.

Why didn’t we get a ‘paid for’ shirt sponsor after a promise to improve commercial performance?

PH: After our long-term deal with Crown Paints came to an end we set about the task of finding a shirt sponsor who could not only pay the going rate, but who suited our profile and could add something to our brand.

We had many options, but decided that a partnership with The Prince’s Trust would be a wonderful opportunity to provide an exemplary charitable organisation with millions of pounds of media value, for the club to show its community spirited nature and for the credibility and protection of the brand.

This is a one-year deal and we are currently looking at a commercial sponsor from next season both from the UK and from India.

Is it true that there is a mortgage based upon TV rights and other commercial income? If so, what happens if the club gets relegated?

PH: We have a mortgage facility at the Bank, but it is not securitised against any future revenue.

Contrary to all sorts of recent rumours there is nothing unconventional about the mortgage.

It is a regular arrangement in line with that of all major football clubs in this country.

Every year it comes under review to see if it is operating in the best interests of all parties.

As a partner of ours, we have regular dialogue with the bank which is only natural.

Who is identifying transfer targets – is it the manager, an agency or someone else?

PH: Transfer recruitment at the level we are operating at is a complex situation and many people get involved, from our Sporting Director who leads an excellent scouting system to agents to football allies, but ultimately the choice of player/s rests with the manager.

As the owners have made crystal clear, whoever else gets involved, the final decision is the manager’s, precisely the way it should be.

The manager has identified areas he would like to strengthen in the January ‘window’ and we are currently involved in discussions about just what will be possible in terms of senior player recruitment and outgoing transfers.

Does Jerome Anderson still have an active role at the club?

PH: Jerome was first invited to play a role by the owners during the last January transfer window and helped us recruit the likes of Ruben Rochina and Mauro Formica.

He has not had an active role since, but remains an established and well-connected football agent who I am sure (along with many, many other agents) will be in contact with the club about potential player and transfer activity going forward.

He is obviously the father of one of the players (Myles) and hence takes an interest in our progress.

How much importance/investment is to be put on youth development?

PH: Huge importance – you only need to look at the current senior squad to see just how successful the club has been in bringing through young talent.

We had seven players under 23 on the field when the final whistle blew against Chelsea when we went so close to getting a positive result against one of the genuine title contenders.

We have always invested in our youth development programme and the owners will be continuing to put resource into this vital area.

Alongside its member clubs and shareholders, the Premier League has been working on a system that will develop more and better players within academies to achieve their full potential by creating the world’s leading academy system.

The Elite Player Performance Plan (or EPPP) will hopefully become the blueprint for youth development in the world.

With a fine tradition of producing players from our Academy, the club is taking a full and active role in this development and more information will follow in due course.

Away from direct football matters, the club seems to do a lot of great work through the Community Trust. Is this something the owners are looking to expand upon, given the work they do over in India?

PH: We have a flagship community and education programme which continues to develop across the region and introduce potential new supporters to our club.

Our owners are very community minded and they are looking at ways of offering further assistance in this vital area.

Our management team and playing staff engage in all sorts of community activities on a day-to-day basis, work that has received plaudits not only locally but also across the football nation as a whole.

Communication is the key though. The fans need to know about what is going on at their club.

PH: Communicating with the club’s supporters locally, nationally and globally has got to be a fundamental part of the club.

We must communicate as regularly as possible with supporters and all other stakeholders to give them the opportunity to understand more about the club and the challenges we face.

I hope that I am able to do this more in the coming months.

In tandem, the club is establishing stronger links with the local community including the local council, community leaders and prominent local and national figures.