Source: SKY_Sports
Rovers work to tight budget
John Williams has admitted that Blackburn are finding it increasingly difficult to compete financially.[LNB] The Rovers chairman has conceded that a crippling wage bill makes it virtually impossible for the club to challenge the Premier League elite.[LNB]The Ewood Park outfit spend around 80 per cent of their turnover on player salaries, leaving little for squad improvements.[LNB]Williams knows that having the capability to pay decent wages is crucial to the club's hopes of maintaining their top-flight status, but is well aware that the gulf between the haves and the have-nots is widening by the year.[LNB]"We would prefer our wages were a lower percentage of our turnover," said Williams.[LNB]"It is our lot in life to try to be as competitive as we can and it means we have to control non-football expenditure very tightly and we do.[LNB]"That enables us to pay a bit more in wages. We don't play other people's turnover, we play their wage bills.[LNB]"The most worrying thing is that as our percentage remains stubbornly high, we are falling down the absolute wages chart."[LNB]MistakesWhile Rovers continue to keep the purse strings tight, they are in the fortunate position of not having to sell their prized assets in order to keep afloat and were able to fend off concerted interest in star striker Roque Santa Cruz during the January transfer window.[LNB]"There is a huge difference between clubs who can't afford to buy but don't need to sell and those who have to sell," Williams told the Lancashire Telegraph.[LNB]"It would be very comforting from a balance sheet point of view but we don't actually need the £20million for Roque.[LNB]"The problem is it invariably gets harder and harder to replace on a like-for-like basis.[LNB]"It's all about good scouting, selling high and buying low. Can we keep repeating that trick? I think we can but what we can't do is make a big mistake.[LNB]"You can make a small mistake, everyone does, but we can't go out and spend £5million on a player who is not good enough. That would kill us because our finances are so finely balanced.[LNB]"If we can keep the profit and finance charge costs in line by finishing mid-table, our model suggests we can still be a trading club (replacing one player with another of equal value) because there is no need to sell."[LNB]
