Allardyce delighted to give new owners a win

Blackburn boss Sam Allardyce was thrilled his side could produce a victory in front of the club’s new owners on Sunday.

A Morten Gamst Pedersen double fired Rovers to an impressive 2-0 win against Aston Villa in the same week the Lancashire-club were bought out by the Rao family.

Brothers Balaji and Venkateshwara Rao were part of the Ewood Park crowd and sat with Allardyce in the first half.

“I met the new owners for the third time, only briefly,” Allardyce said.

“I think it was fair to say they were well entertained here by the match against Chelsea (a 2-1 defeat on October 30), when they came here for the first time before they had actually clinched the deal.”

“Last week they watched the Tottenham game and we were well beaten in the end, but now they have seen us win for the first time.”

“Hopefully, like every Blackburn fan, the players and myself, they will be very happy with the way we have won and the performance that was given.”

The former Bolton and Newcastle boss admitted he was excited about the arrival of the club’s new owners and is looking forward to not having to sell his best players.

“I am excited – I would think a new owner of a club would only want to take it forward,” he said.

“This club has had to live off its own steam recently and all it has done in the last three years or so is sell its major assets.”

“I think if we can stop that first and then progress to adding to those major assets, then the club grows.”

The Blackburn manager also struggled to hide his delight when asked to reflect on his side’s performances and believes they should have scored more.

“It’s a fantastic game for us, I think the balance of being able to attack and open the opposition up was there for all to see,” he said.

“I felt that we really should have added more to the total today on golden chances, particularly (El-Hadji) Diouf’s two in the second half, the one-on-one with Brad (Friedel) and the free header on the far post.”

The win lifted Blackburn to 11th, four points clear of the relegation zone.