“I was watching him playing an MLS game on TV recently, and I think he's actually getting better with age,” says Singh. “He's not going up and down the right wing anymore, but playing in the middle, spraying passes around, and his vision and his one-and two-touch passing was fantastic. If he’s protected by an aggressive tackler sitting alongside him, I think he could play a role for Blackburn, provided he wants to go back to England, and if the owners like the idea. For one thing, he’ll drop corners and free kicks on (Christopher) Samba’s head all day.”

Singh is in Pune on the invitation of Venky’s, originally to witness the ill-fated Blackburn-Pune FC game, but now to be part of the RoverStars under-16 tournament, from which a selection of players will travel to train at Blackburn’s academy.

According to Singh, who played at centre back for the Malaysian national team, the Venky's take-over of Blackburn was fundamentally different from other recent changes in EPL club ownership, thanks to their plans of launching an academy and a football club in India.

“(Chelsea owner) Roman Abramovich doesn't feel the need to improve football in Russia. The sheikh at Man City does not feel the need to promote football in the Gulf. So I feel this acquisition is very different,” says Singh. “I see it as more of a commitment to developing football in India rather than just a commercial venture.”

Singh identifies two key areas that need to be addressed so the game can grow in India. “One is youth development. Children have to be playing every day. There has to be some form of organised competition. I don't think under-12s should be playing 11-a-side. Play five-a-side, but with football rules, and not futsal rules.” “The other is to educate the coaches. You've got to have a lot more coaches, a lot more people taking the courses and getting licences. It cannot be an elitist group. The more coaches you have, the more the game can spread. And the coaches need to constantly update their education, keep taking refresher courses.”

For someone given the brief of selling the EPL to Asian audiences, Singh can often come across as prickly and contrarian, both on TV and during interviews such as this one. Carlos Tevez, he says, adds nothing to the Argentine national team, while John Terry is overrated. “I think I'm the reality check for the EPL,” he says, “I'm there to tell people --hello, this league isn't as good as you think it is.” Because I do this, people call me blunt, people call me cynical, but that's how I am.”

The failure of the English national team to translate the commercial success of the EPL into results in international competition particularly riles him. This, he says, is a product of the tactical backwardness of a lot of English coaches, who still favour a blood-and-thunder approach over the more measured continental style. He illustrates his point by comparing two elegant, cultured holding midfielders. “Sergio Busquets is a superstar in Spain, but Michael Carrick doesn't get a game for England,” he says. “This is where they go wrong.”