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Blackburn Rovers fans have long been disillusioned with the way the club is run, but they’ve now been told they’ve got it all wrong.
In a far cry from the glory days of the 1990s and Jack Walker’s reign at Blackburn Rovers, the Lancashire outfit have now been confined to the second tier for the last 13 years (with one season down in League One sandwiched between).
Now, Rovers are under the ownership of the Venky’s group, headed up by brothers Balaji Rao and Venkatesh Rao.
The pair have been criticised for lacking ambition and putting business over footballing matters. Indeed, John Eustace’s mid-season departure is largely believed to have been down to insufficient backing from the board.
Blackburn have slipped away from the Championship play-off places in recent weeks under new boss Valerien Ismael, but there was another change behind the scenes not long ago, with the arrival of Rudy Gestede as Head of Football Operations.
What Rudy Gestede said about Venky’s ownership of Blackburn Rovers
Gestede’s appointment was a bit of a shock, and so far has done little to alleviate fans’ concerns that the club is heading in the wrong direction.
Now, Gestede has spoken out on the situation and urged fans to get behind the owners, insisting that they are actually doing everything they can to keep the club afloat.
Speaking on the No Tippy Tappy podcast, Gestede said: “What I would say is that, in the Championship, most of the clubs are losing money.
“Every season they put money in just to stay afloat, because in the Championship, with the revenue we have, I think we’ve got a shortfall of £20-25m per season. So if they’re not there to back up the club, we could go down.
“I think the fans should try to understand, not with emotions, but more with a pragmatic vision of the football club.”
When asked if the Venky’s group are looking to sell the club, Gestede replied: “As far as I know, no. Not to my knowledge, no.”
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What we know about Venky’s and Blackburn Rovers
Gestede’s comments certainly align with our own knowledge on Venky’s stance regarding selling Blackburn. It is thought the pair behind it all are not actively looking to move on, and they are committed to funding the club while being passive behind the scenes.
As far as we know, the Venky’s haven’t even tested the waters to see if there are any interested parties out there for Blackburn.
Blackburn players and staff have been urged to adopt a ‘siege mentality’ to improve their fortunes in spite of the owners’ tight restrictions, and that’s something that could certainly unite the fanbase at least.
All in all, it’s a sorry fall from grace for one of the founding clubs of the EFL, who now look destined to remain in midtable obscurity in the Championship at best for years to come.