BLACKBURN Rovers’ latest multi-million pound loss underlines the need for the club to return to the Premier League, according to Kevin Gallacher.

The release of the Ewood Park outfit’s annual accounts to shareholders show that Rovers posted a pre-tax loss of £17.2m for the 2014-15 campaign.

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That was down £24.9m on the £42.1m pre-tax loss announced for the previous season but it was still enough to send the club’s debt levels spiralling to £104.2m, £87m of which is owed to owners Venky’s in the form of interest-free loans.

Former Rovers striker Gallacher said: “As long as the owners keeps financing things, and the team can push for promotion to where the money is, then the club is on relatively stable ground, in the respect that the majority of the 92 League clubs owe millions of pounds. It’s not a good thing but that’s the way it is.

“But there’s no question we definitely need to be where the money is. Clubs up there are getting richer and anyone outside of it are in danger of standing still.

“It’s like the sharks are swimming in the water and you’re the little fish beside it trying to feed off it. Unfortunately that’s the way football club is going.”

Gallacher believes Venky’s will need to back Paul Lambert in the market in the summer if he is to turn Rovers into promotion contenders next season.

But he is also stressed the importance of the club’s academy, which was the brainchild of Jack Walker, to its future.

Gallacher, who won the Premiership with Rovers in 1995, said: “If you’re going to accumulate better players then you’re going to have to spend money.

“But it’s not like we’ve got a quarter of a million people in and around the town and, with crowds of 13,000-14,000, that alone is not going to keep bringing in players. So you’re going to need the owners.

“But you also need to look at the Academy. You’ve got to keep bringing the youngsters through, not just to the under-21 team, but into the first team.

“Some you will keep and some you will sell but you’ve always got to keep bringing them through to keep the escalator going.”

Lifelong Rovers fan and businessman Ian Battersby, meanwhile, has called on Venky’s to fill the hole left by the imminent departure of another board member.

Commercial and communications director Alan Myers this week announced his decision to leave.

It comes less than two months after managing Derek Shaw departed his position.

Battersby, who met Venky’s along with business partner Ian Currie in 2011, told BBC Radio Lancashire: “There clearly is a real need here for some leadership and direction. Whether this is a prelude to something happening, and another appointment, who knows?

“When Ian Currie and myself were out of in India what became absolutely clear was they see the manager of their subsidiaries as the person who runs that subsidiary and reports directly into Venky’s.

“I don’t think they’ve ever understood or recognised the value of a board of directors. Having said that when you’re 6,000 miles away and managing a football club the public face and visual appearance of a board of directors driving things locally is an essential part of momentum behind the club.

“That is sadly lacking and has been for a number of years.”