Blackburn Rovers Indian owners, the Venky’s, are planning lavish celebrations in 2020 for the 10 year anniversary of their acquisition of our football club.
Negotiations are taking place between Venky’s and Blackburn with Darwen Council over plans to relocate Corporation Park’s famous Sliding Stone to Ewood Park. Once installed, it will be known as the ‘Pearl of Pune’.
This stone originated in Scotland, taking 10,000 years to arrive in Lancashire by glacier. It was taken from the River Ribble at Samlesbury and has resided in Corporation Park since 1882 – the year Rovers reached their first FA Cup Final.
This idea of using the Sliding Stone came on a rare Venky’s visit to Blackburn. Rumour has it Mrs. Desai was jogging in Corporation Park. She was said to be running along the Broad Walk, when one of her bodyguards was waiting for her to catch up and parked himself on the Sliding Stone. Much to his embarrassment, he promptly slid off and landed on his backside. In between peals of laughter, Mrs. Desai said she must have this stone.
The stone itself looks like half an egg. This is what may also have caught the Venky matriarch’s attention. What more appropriate symbol could our club’s owners choose as a lasting monument to their tenure at Blackburn Rovers? Plans are now afoot to complete the other half of the egg shape with a blue semi-cylindrical casting made from metal and glass, giving it a Fabergé style appearance. It would then be put on display outside Ewood Park alongside the statue of Uncle Jack.
Possible opposition to the stone’s removal from Corporation Park may arise, along with arguments of further ‘Venkyfication’. But Venky’s believe they can appease the people of Blackburn by spending money on more cultural attractions in the town, including street art and sculptures, helping turn Blackburn into a cultural Bhopal. They have already given a donation to Blackburn Cathedral on a previous visit and may have offered to double-glaze its stained glass windows and concrete the grassy area surrounding this ecclesiastical building.
In donating a blue and white egg to Blackburn Rovers, Venky’s are making a statement which signifies a new beginning, how life is just below the surface and nourishment will be provided to their ‘baby’. A new appropriate Latin motto, alongside our existing Arte Et Labore will also be associated with the Pearl of Pune. This will be ‘Ad Quod Operantur Ex Ovo’ (Go to work on an egg).
