Source: SKY_Sports
Williams defends Rovers spending
// A bit of a hack but it works// The article snippet is wrapped onto a second line, even when #article-sub is emptyif( $("div#article-sub").children().length == 0 ) {$("div#article-sub").remove();} Blackburn chairman John Williams used almost half of the transfer fees brought into the club over the summer to balance the books at Ewood Park.[LNB] A busy close-season of departures at the North West outfit saw the likes of Roque Santa Cruz, Matt Derbyshire and Stephen Warnock offloaded, in deals which netted Rovers in the region of £26million.[LNB]Sam Allardyce has been allocated just over half that amount to reinvest, which has led to reported disquiet amongst some supporters. [LNB]Williams said savings had to be made at the club with £12.5million of their transfer income being used to cover budgetary deficiencies.[LNB]The sacking of Paul Ince and his backroom staff and the appointment of Allardyce and his team plus a drop in the number of televised matches Blackburn were involved in led to a £7.5million hole in the budget, as the unplanned January arrivals of Gael Givet and El-Hadji Diouf pushed the annual wage bill to £46million.[LNB]Contingency payments"That is the gap that had to be plugged from the Santa Cruz deal," said Williams, who revealed the club received an initial fee of £15million for the Paraguay international with further cash coming from "contingency payments".[LNB]"For years we have stretched ourselves budgeting a league finish above that suggested by the wage bill.[LNB]"This year we took a more pragmatic approach to our mantra of break-even; a 13th-place finish would support circa £41million annual wage bill.[LNB]"Therefore we needed to get £5million off the wages. We have failed to do this."[LNB]Because of that failure other measures had to be taken so when Aston Villa bought Warnock for £7million just days before the transfer window closed, Allardyce was allowed only £2million to buy Pascal Chimbonda from Tottenham.[LNB]"Not surprisingly wages are running very similar year on year," Williams told the Lancashire Telegraph.[LNB]"So we have filled the resulting £5million hole with the difference in transfer fees between Stephen and Pascal.[LNB]"I'm not entirely comfortable about funding wages from transfer fees but developing players, buying low and selling high has, by necessity, become part of our business.[LNB]"I suppose the most sobering thing about this is that even if we stretch ourselves to achieve break-even at operating level that still leaves nothing for player acquisition. So trading is the name of the game."[LNB]Daunting taskNevertheless, Williams felt his club could still compete on the field.[LNB]"I do get depressed at times when I see the spending power of the clubs with big fan bases and/or wealthy owners putting in money," he said.[LNB]"But they're not better than us, they don't work any harder, they just have more money.[LNB]"Many of them I know look with envy at our achievements on and off the field over recent years.[LNB]"And they certainly don't have a greater ambition than us.[LNB]"My greatest fear is not that we haven't stretched ourselves enough, it's that we have stretched ourselves too far - but lack of finance is nothing to be ashamed of.[LNB]"We should in fact be proud to be supporting a big club in a small town. We deserve to be in this league, it's no fluke."[LNB]
