Williams: Rovers don't have to sell

Rovers made a £6.6million operating profit in 2007-08 and although most of that money has been reinvested in wages the club are still falling behind in the salary stakes.Blackburn spend around 80% of their turnover on wages - £39.7million in 2007-08 - to ensure they can attract and keep the best players they possibly can.But without huge gate receipts or a wealthy backer to rely on they are gradually being squeezed out by other top-flight clubs."We would prefer our wages were a lower percentage of our turnover," said Williams."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."That enables us to pay a bit more in wages. We don't play other people's turnover, we play their wage bills."The most worrying thing is that as our percentage remains stubbornly high, we are falling down the absolute wages chart."Williams said that operating at such extremes meant the club had to be extra-careful in their transfer policy.But he said they would stubbornly resist the need to sell off their prize assets to balance the books - highlighted by Rovers' success in holding on to striker Roque Santa Cruz in the transfer window despite Manchester City's pursuit."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."It would be very comforting from a balance sheet point of view but we don't actually need the £20million for Roque."The problem is it invariably gets harder and harder to replace on a like-for-like basis."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."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."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."The real concern for Rovers is safeguarding their Premier League future with the club currently 18th in the table and Williams admits relegation would be a worry."The pressure comes on us if our model starts to come under threat [by] falling down or out of the league or if wage inflation in the league outstrips income growth," he added. Blackburn 8/11, Draw 23/10, Coventry 9/2 

Source: Team_Talk