THE new family owners of Blackburn Rovers have told fans 'embrace us so we can do our best for the club'.

Indian poultry giants Venky's finally completed a £23million takeover of the club this afternoon, bringing to an end the 'remarkable' Jack Walker era.

The new owners said they were 'delighted, proud and humbled', vowed to 'absolutely respect Jack Walker's legacy' and to make Rovers a 'truly global brand'.

And it emerged the Walker Trust had negotiated a number of commitments with the new owners in a bid to safeguard the future of the club.

These include a contractual agreement that the Jack Walker statue and stand are protected; assurances over future transfer investment; keeping the existing management team; and maintaining the ticketing policy.

The trust said Venky's 'impressed with their enthusiasm, ideas for future investment and commitment to preserve the Jack Walker legacy'.

Last month, Venky's said £5million will be made available for manager Sam Allardyce in January.

No details were given on funds today, but it will be the first transfer window in several years that the club have had money to spend without having to sell players first.

While the purchase cost Venky's London Limited, the English-registered firm set up for the buyout, £23million, no details have been released on whether the club's £20miilion debt has also been cleared.

The end of 20 years of ownership by Jack Walker and his trust, which saw Rovers rise from obscurity to win the Premier League and the League Cup, was announced in a statement at around 1pm.

It read: "The Board of Blackburn Rovers Football and Athletic plc (BRF&A) announces the sale by BRFC Investments Limited of its 99.9 per cent shareholding to Venky’s London Limited."

Anuradha J Desai, Venky's chairman, is likely to take a back-seat in the running of the club.

Neither she nor her brothers Balaji and Venkateshwara will immediately take up seats on the board.

John Williams, Tom Finn, Martin Goodwin will remain as executive directors.

Rob Coar and Richard Matthewman will still be non-executive directors.

David Brown is to resign as a non-executive director.

Meanwhile, Mrs Desai's brothers are likely to be at the game at Ewood against Aston Villa on Sunday.

Balaji is understood to be the driving force behind the deal, having spoken of his love of football.

As well as pledging to strengthen the team on the pitch, the family have spoken of their dream to boost Rovers' international appeal, particularly in India.

Balaji Rao said: "We see real sustainable growth for the club moving forward, both within the UK and also internationally and we intend to exploit our in-depth knowledge of the Indian market in particular, and beyond that, the whole of Asia.

"Blackburn Rovers fans will be delighted to add to the family a huge Indian and Asian fan base.

"The immediate future will be spent with the key figures at the club from the chairman and the management team right through to the players and club staff working with them to ensure that we move forward as a team.”

Mrs Desai said Rovers shared many values and ambitions with her family-run firm.

She said: "We are delighted, proud and humbled to be associated with Blackburn Rovers.

"Going forward we plan to focus on leveraging the global influence in establishing Blackburn Rovers as a truly global brand.

"We will absolutely respect the Jack Walker legacy and will be actively supporting the organisation to ensure that Blackburn Rovers remains one of the best run clubs within the Premier League.

"We are particularly pleased that the deal has the full support of the Walker Trust, the chairman and the management team who will of course remain in place with our full support.

“Blackburn Rovers is an historic institution that has won the Premier League and we want the fans to embrace us so that we are able to do our best in the interests of the club.”

Chairman John Williams said the deal 'represented the end of the remarkable Walker era'.

He said: "The successful conclusion of the deal is clearly a significant event in the history of the club.

"In the 10 years since Jack’s death the board and trustees together have managed to build on Jack’s legacy and preside over the club’s longest term in the top flight since 1936.

“The Rao family pursued the opportunity with determination and enthusiasm.

"The board will remain focused on what it does, providing important stability, a platform from which the new owners will be able to launch new ideas, particularly in markets outside the UK.”

Paul Egerton-Vernon, chairman of the Jack Walker Settlement Trustees, said they were 'very pleased to be passing on the Rovers to the Rao family'.

He said: "We have been impressed with their enthusiasm for the club and their plans and ideas for future investment to develop it further as well as their wish and commitment to preserve the legacy of Jack Walker.

"We are particularly pleased that the club will continue in family ownership and that the existing management team at the Rovers led by John Williams will continue unchanged.

"We would like to express our gratitude and admiration for the great job John and his team have done for the club whilst it has been part of the trust.

“Over the last 10 years, the global appeal of the Premier League has grown significantly and it is only natural that, as we have seen at other clubs, international ownership and investment should increase.“

Click on the link below for the full Venky's offer document for Blackburn Rovers.