Head of Football Operations Rudy Gestede makes a plea to Blackburn fans and says “it hurts” being asked to stay away from Ewood Park.
Blackburn fans asking him and other senior club officials to stay away from matches for the remainder of the season.
A growing frustration among supporters directed at the club’s ownership and its executive team, including Gestede, over the direction and management of the club.
Gestede, a former striker for Rovers who returned to the club in an administrative role, emphasised his understanding of the fans’ perspective, drawing from his own experience as a player.
He acknowledged the importance of supporter unity, especially with only a handful of games left in the Championship season, as the team fights for a potential play-off spot, when in truth, that looks more and more unlikely in happening.
Despite the fans’ request, Gestede and other executives, including CEO Steve Waggott and COO Suhail Pasha, have affirmed their intention to continue attending matches to support the players and staff, while also calling for fans to rally behind the team during this critical period.
Supporters are discontent with the club’s leadership, including concerns over squad management, recent poor results under new manager Valerien Ismael, and off-field uncertainties tied to the ownership.
Gestede’s response reflects his personal connection to the club and a desire to bridge the gap with the fanbase, even as tensions persist ahead of key fixtures, such as the upcoming clash with Middlesbrough.
Blackburn Rovers fell to a -20 defeat to Middlesbrough, exacerbating a poor run of form under Ismaël. taking one point from six matches, leading to widespread criticism of his management style and tactics.
The dissatisfaction extends beyond the manager to the club’s ownership, with fans demanding that the Venky’s sell the club due to long-term mismanagement.
Blackburn’s Head of Football Operations, Rudy Gestede, says “it hurts” being asked to stay away by the fans
pic.twitter.com/FOm3ciH5se
— Sky Sports Football (@SkyFootball) April 4, 2025
He said: “It hurts because we are having a good season. I think we’re still close to the playoff, but we’ve got this noise from the fans.
“We know that the core of fans is behind the team, behind the club, so we try to support the first team and the new head coach as much as we can to make sure we take the noise on our shoulder and the the players can play freely on the pitch.”
Interviewer: “Do you have an understanding of the fans’ frustrations?
Rudy: “To an extent, yeah, maybe. I think they’ve got, some kind of frustration not to go up, for so many years, and, they try to express themselves, the best way possible. So most of the time, it’s against the board, against the ownership.
“But as I said, we are in a good position. We’re still fighting for playoff, so we expect the fans to be behind the team at least.”
Interviewer: “Yes. You’re very much in charge of what happens on the football field. The Venkys in their time have put nearly 300,000,000 into the club, but, subsequently, it appears to be standing still, neither going forwards nor backwards. What is the plan under you and everybody else to take this club forward?”
Rudy: “The plan has always been the same is we have to be based on our academy, developing young players, give the chance, give them a pathway for the to the first team.
“So we will not spend $1,520,000,000 in the transfer market.
“We have to be reasonable using the the money a creative way.
“And, obviously, as a as a competitor, you want to play the highest level possible.
” So we believe that with this strategy, we’ll be able to fight for promotion within the next few years.”
See the full interview in the YouTube clip at the top of the article.
Blackburn Rovers fans were in complete fury with the Venkys and Steve Waggott after going 2-0 down after 8 minutes.
Blackburn Rovers fans were in complete fury with the Venkys and Steve Waggott after going 2-0 down after 8 minutes.
Completely toxic atmosphere in Ewood Park tonight.#BRFC | #Rovers pic.twitter.com/y47dcvkZWR
— RoversXtra (@RoversXtra) April 4, 2025
Allez le blues. Straight down the tunnel..#rovers pic.twitter.com/lTKw2kacar
— allrovers (@allrovers_) April 4, 2025
Outside Jack Walker Stand after game. Some jobsworth little Hitler came and told them ‘the club have asked you to take it down’ #Rovers pic.twitter.com/5nVY5tAYxu
— Brian Sultana (@thedeckinn) April 4, 2025
A very passionate @AdamCatterall giving a direct message to the Rovers hierarchy..
If it’s not for sale, bring back people that care, that understand the game etc. he’s hit the nail on the head
Spoken like a true Rover!#rovers pic.twitter.com/oiwaMthN7L
— allrovers (@allrovers_) April 5, 2025
Blackburn’s Valerien Ismael said after defeat to Middlesbrough, per Sky Sports:
“I understand [ the fans’ frustrations]. It’s not like we are happy with the situation. We expected more results. I don’t take it personally. I know how it works in football. The coin has two sides. At the minute it is the ugly side but I know the other side of the coin is nice.
“I still believe. I work with the possibilities we have at the minute. It’s not like we have a transfer window in front of us and can just compensate for all the injuries. The focus is on the next game.
“I understand when we are not winning the doubt but I’m not doubting myself. It’s just a tough period for everyone, for myself, my family, but we stick together and focus on what we have to do better.”
Ismael told BBC Radio Lancashire:
“When you don’t start the game properly and you end up 2-0 down, this is the big disappointment tonight. The end of the first half and especially the second half, this is how we wanted to play.
“Credit to the players to come out with more desire and belief and to dominate the game again. We had the chance to come back. At half-time I said we need to stay calm.
“It’s not easy to deal with but the next game will be the chance to rectify things and make sure that we learn from those situations. I said to the players, if you give yourselves the chance to compete at 0-0 then your quality at the end will make the difference, because we finished the game very strongly.”
pic.twitter.com/e6Ou4LocvW
— Blackburn Rovers (@Rovers) April 4, 2025
Middlesbrough’s Michael Carrick:
“It was an ideal start. You couldn’t really ask for much better than that. I thought it was fantastic, great movement, a great finish from Tommy and we built on that really.
“Credit to Blackburn, they made us work, it was never really dead. One goal would have flipped it so the boys stayed on it, stayed really focused. A third goal would have been ideal to finish it but I’m really happy with that.
“Tommy [Conway’s] quality. He’s still young, he’s still learning and he’s still adapting and developing.
“I think it’s really exciting. He’s only been here a short period of time and when he’s played his goals to minutes ratio is pretty impressive. The exciting part is I think there’s still a lot more to come.”
Carrick told BBC Tees:
“Every game you try to go out and do the right things. It was the ideal start. I thought it was a fantastic goal and a really good move and I thought it was a hell of a finish by Tommy.
“It put us in a really good spot. We caused them a few issues early on and then we got the second goal but credit to them, the game was alive the whole time really.
“We never really totally settled and I thought the boys coped with it really well in seeing it out and I was just as happy with the defending as I was with the whole team.”
Enough is enough. The club is dying because of ignorant people.#BRFC | #Rovers | #VenkysOut pic.twitter.com/XPzePQMIgB
— RoversXtra (@RoversXtra) April 5, 2025
Here’s how Twitter users reacted as Rudy Gestede makes plea to Blackburn fans and says “it hurts” being asked to stay away…
@browjd: Absolutely delusional – completely out of his depth
@MatthewStanger: No one is asking for the club to spend £15-20m in the transfer market. They’re just asking for a not insignificant amount of the £40m+ raised in sales and sell-ons over the past couple of years to be reinvested.
@Catkins94: Coming from the guy who refused to play in 2015 to try force a move when we was the club that gave him a chance and hit his career back on track
@ghana3032: Didn’t have Rudy Gestede being in such a prominent role at a Championship club within 4 years of leaving the Vuck on my bingo card.
@ambernatha: It hurts watching my football club die a slow death Rudy, but you’re not particularly arsed about that are you?
@BackPostTapIn: Retired 3 years ago. Walks straight into a huge job like that. Nah not dodgy at all #Rovers
@alwilkinson_: @Rovers The fact he thinks frustration is at ‘not going up’ is mindblowing. No Rudy, the reason we’re frustrated is what we’ve seen done to a town club that many families have followed for generations, a club that thrived on honesty, skill & hard work & is now barely recognisable
@SimonJohnFish: I will tell you what fucking hurts. Witnessing a proud club being dragged down and made a laughing stock by people of utter incompetence. How dare you come out with your “”hurt” You have no idea what hurt is. Be gone.
@RickMcGurty94: It’s insulting to down play concerns as noise. If they still think it’s a minority that are unhappy them more fool them. Proofs in the pudding, look how empty the ground is. Constant bad news and mismanagement for a decade and a half.
@CallumTh0mas_: Basically said they ain’t spending nothing and expecting to produce young talent to get them up 
absolute joke Blackburn got good fans deserve better , this is why I’m grateful we have a class family owning Millwall who has the clubs and fans best interest at heart.
The post Rudy Gestede makes plea to Blackburn fans and says “it hurts” being asked to stay away appeared first on Fan Banter.
