Venky's desire to see Rovers back in the Premier League remains – but chief executive Steve Waggott says the reasons for their continued investment into the club would be something only they could answer.

The Rao family marked a decade in charge of the club this week, and have been relegated from the Premier League and Championship in that time, but after promotion from League One in 2018, are looking to push towards a top-flight return.

Asked what drives their continued investment in the club, Waggott told the Lancashire Telegraph: “I think that would have to be a question for them, not me.

“They came in, they got the club, they’re south of Mumbai in Pune, India, we’re here in Blackburn, the north west of England, there’s obviously a rich diverse population here and they have acquired the club and supported it throughout.

“They have a put a lot of money into the club and continue to do so. They’ll be wanting for us to get back in to the Premier League at some stage but there’s no guarantees of that with the competitive level in the Championship.

“My plan initial was to maybe within five years be a club that threatened to get into the Premier League, and we’re on course for that, but the final step and getting across the finishing line is always going to be tough.”

Suhail Pasha has acted as the owners’ representative at the club in recent years, and Waggott believes that role has been key to the improved communications between Ewood Park and Pune.

On how often that dialogue is, he added: “In among the hierarchy we're touching base constantly on a daily basis, maybe every other day, and we have the owner's representative in Suhail who has been in India for the last few months.

“He is there with the global FD Gandhi Babu and Madam and Mr Desai, so we're constantly in touch about team performance and cash flow, as you can imagine, along with other operational issues at the club.”

Waggott, appointed in December 2017, travelled to Pune as part of the interview process and has since flown over to hold meeting with the owners in the summers of 2018 and 2019.

That has become a ritual of Rovers’ preparations for each season, accompanied by Tony Mowbray, where budgets and plans are finalised.

Those have covered infrastructure around the training ground and other areas of the club, as well as on the playing side, and Waggott says that process has been a smooth one.

He added: “We generally present our ideas towards the end of a season as to what we want to do the following season.

“We outline the key areas we want to develop, recruitment was a big aspect because like most clubs we live and die by the recruitment of players. That was a big area for us.

“The training ground facilities and surface, we’ve improved all of that because Tony likes to play attractive, attacking football, so all that had to be improved.

“We put a case forward to the owners to say that we’re trying to develop the club, push on and progress it to a level where we’re ready to try and break into that top six as I keep saying and get promoted.

“They’ve been fully supportive of anything we’ve put to them from signing players, different infrastructure and support in other areas.”