IF ever there was proof of why Blackburn Rovers need new investment this afternoon's defeat at Stoke was it.

Tony Pulis's Potters were not much better than Allardcye's Rovers, the big difference though was Stoke had a presence in Kenwyne Jones.

How Sam would have loved the luxury of splashing £10million on Jones in the summer.

For as long as the Walker Trust stay in control though, we know that such resources are out of reach.

You get the feeling Rovers are agonisingly close to being a very good team but the players with a touch of creativity and an eye for goal always prove the most expensive.

Rovers fans should not despair, though. Takeover talk may have gone quiet at the moment but there is still plenty of activity behind the scenes.

Ahsan Ali Syed is certainly still in the race, with his people insisting on Friday things are still on track, while Saurin Shah is remaining patient as he waits to make his move.

It is understood there is at least one other group seriously interested in purchasing Rovers - and the careful silence from both sides suggests they do mean business.

One potential suitor is Indian industrial conglomerate the Mahindra Group, according to growing rumours, who have operations in various fields including the automotive, farm equipment, financial services, and IT and infrastructure sectors.

The US $6.3 billion Mahindra Group is among the top 10 industrial houses in India but they declined to comment, just saying: "We do not speculate on speculative stories."

Whether the Mahindra Group are among those in the race or not remains to be seen, but don't be surprised to see Rovers changing owners sooner rather than later.