Blackburn Rovers legend Simon Garner has joined a fans’ campaign to bring the club into community ownership.

The club’s record league goal scorer has become a non-executive director of Blackburn Rovers Supporters Investment Trust, who are aiming to take ownership of Rovers.

Garner will appear at a special question and answer session the trust has organised for invited guests on Saturday.

The former striker, who scored 168 goals in 474 league appearances between 1978 and 1992, said: “I firmly believe the future of the club would be best served if the supporters were in control and guiding it forward.

“Blackburn Rovers is still very close to my heart. I spent the majority of my football career at Ewood Park and I will always be a Rovers supporter.

“It would be great if other former players also joined up. I know when I was at Blackburn all the players had a special feeling for the club.”

The trust is the brainchild of Wayne Wild, director of Darwen-based WEC Group Limited and finance expert Daniel Grabko.

Other high profile figures who are backing the trust include local MPs Jack Straw, Jake Berry and Graham Jones.

The aim of the investment trust is to raise funds to buy the club by issuing a sufficient number of shares to meet a realistic valuation at the time of purchase.

Wild said: “At this stage we are asking Blackburn Rovers supporters if they would be willing to buy a share in the club. The more fans who pledge to buy a share, the stronger and more credible our bid will become.”