FEW would have been surprised if Blackburn Rovers’ first sale of the summer had seen Rudy Gestede or Jordan Rhodes join a Premier League club, but Tom Cairney’s exit to Fulham has shocked many supporters.

Everyone knew that that the chances were extremely slim that Rovers would go into the 2015/16 campaign with the same squad with which they ended the 2014/15 season.

Rovers have been under a transfer embargo since January after falling foul of Financial Fair Play regulations, and the only realistic way out of it is to sell players.

But for some months now all the noises coming out of Ewood Park had been priming fans for a situation where a bid came in from a Premier League club, and an ambitious player was eager for the chance to play in the top flight.

Providing the right offer was received, the club had indicated that they could not stand in the way of a player who desperately wanted to fulfil their dream of playing in the Premier League.

Supporters would not have been happy to see a star player leave, but they might have found that scenario easier to accept.

A Championship club selling one of their best players to a Premier League club is nothing new.

A Championship club selling one of their best players to another Championship side who finished eight places below them in the table is understandably more controversial.

Rovers cannot claim that they had to sell because it has always been Cairney’s dream to play for Fulham.

Undoubtedly the embargo was the driving force of this transfer. Rovers may have felt they had little choice but to negotiate the best price they could for Cairney and take the money.

Rovers were not providing explanations yesterday, but one wonders whether the fact that June 30 is the cut-off date for the club’s annual accounts had any role at all to play.

FFP verdicts are delivered at the end of the year based on each club’s annual accounts, for the season running between July 1 and June 30, although all the indications have always been that one sale would not be enough for the embargo to be lifted.

In any case, transfer fees are usually paid in instalments, rather than in full on the date of sale.

What is clear though is that Cairney’s sale has damaged Rovers’ hopes of success, and boosted the prospects of rivals Fulham.

Cairney was player of the year in his first season, even if his impact was not as great in 2014/15.

There still remained debate too over where he was most effective – in the centre or out wide.

Many supporters felt his talent was wasted on the flank, and that his presence in the middle would have livened up an often cautious partnership between two of Evans, Lee Williamson and Jason Lowe.

We now wait to see if a replacement of Cairney’s ilk can be secured, but it will be hard to find a player as good as him under the current restrictions. It will still be no surprise, either, if Gestede or Rhodes departs this summer. 

After completing his move, Cairney spoke of his desire to reach the Premier League with Fulham.

Blackburn fans wanted him to achieve that feat at Ewood Park.

The chances of Rovers reaching the Premier League diminished with his departure.