BLACKBURN Rovers legend Mick McGrath says Venky’s must spend £20m in January if they are serious about avoiding relegation – or sell the club to someone who will provide funds.

Venky’s have given assurances that they will continue to fund Rovers, regardless of which division they are in next season, after the club posted an annual pre-tax loss of £18.6m.

But fans are now waiting to see whether the club’s owners will also provide a significant transfer kitty during the transfer window, with Rovers currently bottom of the Premier League and in major danger of seeing their 11-year spell in the top flight come to an end.

McGrath, who made 312 appear-ances for Rovers between 1954 and 1966 and was a highly respected member of the side that reached the 1960 FA Cup final, fears relegation could be a disaster for his former club and has urged Venky’s to spend.

Rovers boss Steve Kean was due to meet with director Vineeth Rao yesterday to further discuss plans for the transfer window, with Fulham striker Andy Johnson thought to be high on their list of priorities.

“I think if the owners were here at the games they would see that they need to spend money,” said former Republic of Ireland international McGrath, who still lives in the area.

“I think they need a centre half and a right back, because it looks like they want to let Michel Salgado go, as well as a midfielder and a striker.

“They play one up front and Yakubu has done very well but he needs help.

“If it is someone like Andy Johnson I think that will be good in the short term. I saw Fulham play at Wigan and he made a big difference, he’s lively and he scores goals.

“They need experienced players who can come in and play straight away. You’re talking £5m each in today’s game so that’s probably about £20m.

“The owners need to spend money or sell it to new investors who will.

“The club can’t afford to go down. I’d hate to think of the consequences if they did.

“You look at other clubs who have gone out of the Premier League, clubs like Leeds who went down and down and I think it could be a number of years before Blackburn got back.”

Rovers secured a 1-1 draw at Liverpool on Boxing Day and are back in action on New Year’s Eve when they travel to Manchester United, where they were thrashed 7-1 last season.

McGrath admits the trip to Old Trafford will prove daunting but says Venky’s must make up their mind over the future of their manager in the next few weeks.

“It will be tough for them at United, I was there last year when they lost 7-1,” he said.

“You wouldn’t expect them to get anything there but then I didn’t expect them to get anything at Liverpool.

“Last year I said to my wife that I thought they would stay up and they did in the end. This time I feel it’s the toss of a coin, they might struggle but I hope they survive.

“There has been talk that Venky’s are undecided about the manager but they can’t afford to leave it too long, they either need to back him or say enough’s enough in the next couple of weeks.

“If they wait too long it would make it more and more difficult for a new manager coming in.”

Keith Andrews is due to return to Blackburn for talks about his future after the final game of his loan spell at Ipswich on New Year’s Eve, although he could miss that match against Nottingham Forest with a hamstring injury.

“He’s scored goals at Ipswich and Blackburn haven’t had many goals from midfield,” said fellow Irishman McGrath.

“I’ve always thought David Dunn was best with a bit of freedom but he’s having to do a job for the team. If you had someone like Keith Andrews there he could do that job and David could get that freedom.

“Every team has players who aren’t particularly spectacular but do a job and I thought Keith did a good job, but sometimes fans want more.

“But whether he would want to come back I don’t know.”