‘Fans don’t like the owners’: Blackburn Rovers new boy gives honest assessment of Ewood Park – Venky’s won’t be happy News: The72 – Football League News

Blackburn Rovers midfielder Axel Henriksson has highlighted the fans’ relationship with the owners as a reason behind the ‘pent-up frustration’ at Ewood Park.

Blackburn Rovers cast a wide net during the summer transfer window, recruiting from across Europe. One man to join in was Swedish midfielder Axel Henriksson, who arrived from Allsvenskan side GAIS.

After a spell out of the team, the 23-year-old has now started four of the last six Championship games, although he has yet to find the goalscoring form that made him a hit in his native country.

However, it didn’t take long for Henriksson to get to grips with life at Rovers and quickly noticed the rift between the fans and the ownership group, Venky’s. Speaking ‘Football’s Coming Home’ – A Swedish podcast focusing on the EFL – the Blackburn Rovers man was asked about the atmosphere at Ewood Park, acknowledging the ‘pent-up frustration’ that has developed as a result of the relationship with the owners and poor results over the years.

‘A lot of pent-up frustration’ Henriksson said at Ewood Park (quotes relayed by RoversXtra). “Fans don’t like the owners, the results have been bad for years. We have won three games in a row. Before that the attendance was not great. The match with 20,000 felt almost full and you could feel the energy returning.”

Blackburn Rovers fans will appreciate Axel Henriksson’s honesty

Henriksson also spoke about the encouragement from players, management and sporting director Valerien Ismael to live in Manchester instead of Blackburn. These quotes may not go down well with some Rovers fans, but his words about the ownership and atmosphere are refreshingly honest.

There’s no hiding the fact that Ewood Park hasn’t been a great place since Venky’s took over. They have gone from being a fixture in the Premier League to often bouncing around in the Championship, even dropping down to League One for the 2017/2018 season.

However, the protests have fallen on deaf ears for years. The push for play-off places has often been the result of overperformance by players or managers, and there has been a decline in the rankings the following year.

Recent form and the 150th anniversary match against Derby County made for a better crowd and atmosphere, as Henriksson noted. For too long, however, Rovers have felt like a mere existing club, and it seems the players are all too aware of that.

Blackburn Rovers’ championship has been ending since 2018

*Season running

There is no change on the horizon at Blackburn Rovers

The aforementioned protests from Blackburn Rovers fans have not led to compromises from Venky’s.

April of this year was the last time anyone from Venky’s talked about a possible sale or bringing in other investors. It was the heavily scrutinized Chief Operating Officer Suhail Pasha who spoke to BBC Radio Lancashire and he said there was no desire to sell nor was there any takeover interest.

Fast forward to the present and nothing has changed. Dissatisfaction remains, but it seems unlikely that anything will change in the short term.

Valerien Ismael and his players must do their utmost to keep Rovers afloat.