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Whilst not trying to defend Gestede, this may have simply been a lazy cost cut rather than anything specifically ideological. Kargbo, Gueye & Gestede (there may be more, Baradji maybe?) are Muslim if I recall rightly, so unless anyone else "kicked up a stink" about it, it may well have just been a case or having 1 meat order rather than 2 I am not discounting the possibility that it may well be a case of Gestede imposing his beliefs upon others, just giving another possibility

Might as when he is serving his ban from the training ground for refusing to play while a contracted Rovers player.

I was gonna say hand picked questions

You just know this so called podcast, will be an absolute terrible listen.. not due to the censorship that's an absolute given and it's almost pointless submitting a question. The audio quality will be dreadful, recorded in some shabby cupboard at the training ground 1 mic plugged into a Lenovo ThinkPad. It'll sound like a GCSE media project and what else can you expect with this lot.

Can't see anything online about that and I wouldn't have thought Pasha was Muslim.

This implies that the players aren’t backed on the pitch, which I think is an incredibly lazy false narrative, usually peddled by fans on social media who rarely (if ever) attend games at Ewood. The team gets 100% backing and support from the crowd (the crowds aren’t big enough, but that’s the fault of Venky’s, Pasha and the brain trust), and the crowd is what matters. Criticising the regime causes no detriment to on pitch performances, just as delusional positivity towards them does no good.

Someone should ask Rudy whether he was on more than 10k as a Rovers player or the club he left to join and whether if he were still a player now would be sign for 10K.

'Is water wet?' Neil will be asking the questions presumably. 😏

finally some rational thinking and optimism its a transition and project we have to get behind regardless

I think Ismael is Muslim too, bit not 100%.

This whole charade simply has to hit the skids at some point. Fingers crossed it's sooner rather than later with their financial issues deepening. Bring it on I say.

He’s their human shield. In those terms he’s been quite successful.

See this window as a 8/10 - Club operation wise 5/10 - performance wise On the running of the club (I know results are the only that matter) there has been a big overhaul. Lots of players who we cherish, had connection with the fans, academy lads and solid player leaving the club is not good at all. In-depth though: * "old players" - Hyam turning 30 in December and Trav 28 in a month (is in his peak) * Some didnt perform well enough to build our future on: JRC, Markanday, Buckley * Some injury prone: Harry Leonard and * Some didnt want to sign a new contract so we had to cash in: Brittain and to some extent both Hyam and Trav. * One who didnt want to sign and wanted to go to Barcelona to try a new life. This lays a good economic foundation of turning the playing staff, who havent been able to reach the playoffs yet, upside down in an effort to reach the playoffs. We have reduced the wage bill significantly (hopefully) and brought in new players with potential for sales value, just like we did with Hyam and Brittain. Both deemed relatively successes, but not able to push us to playoffs. We have replaced the aforementioned players with: 5 players aged 23 3 players aged 24 and 2 players aged 28. In addition we have kept the promising Igor Tyjon and starting to mould Montgomery into a role in the first team. Its a lot of uncertainty around the team. Some of the signings I think look extrmely promising and our First XI of Toth Alebiosu - Carter - McLoughlin - Ribeiro Tronstad - Tavares Hedges - Cantwell - Miro Ohashi We have Wharton, Hickman, Gueye, Gudjohnson, Henriksson, Kargbo, Tyjon, Pickering, Miller I am not so sure we look so much weaker than last season.

I sent a Q asking why I should feel positive when the club has been unable to renew an first team contract since Adam Wharton in 2023 and a combined over 1000 Rovers appearances, and the spine from multiple 7th placed finishes, has been removed (choice word) from the club?

It will be just another vetted farce with any difficult questions simply ignored. It should be an open forum done face to face and live streamed.

The latter 2 not sure about Ismael.

Maybe it is about time we looked at a fund for getting some novel new fans flags and banners made; they can be direct to the point without being offensive. The flags will be ideal for away days. The company below allows you to upload designs and even photographs of our favourite people 😉. The flags come with a fire certificate and label just in case over officious stewards try and remove or confiscate them as “this isn’t legal mate”. I must admit I am useless when it comes to designs. I am sure some of our friends on here will help come up with some witty ideas suitable for uploading. https://terraceflags.com/

and the benefit of this would be...

Don’t underestimate how aligned things are behind the scenes right now. There is very little point trying to differentiate between Suhail and Gestede - they are both very much on the same page. They are extremely close, holiday together, socialise etc. They might have different roles and responsibilities, but they are working towards the same goal. Same applies to the senior people still employed and recently promoted at Ewood. I was told just after Eustace left that Rudy had decided that there was no need to pay more than 10k per week in wages and that would be the policy this summer, and Suhail was right behind it. Waggott was trying to push back on this - going as far as calling it a “suicidal strategy”, look how that worked out for him. Nobody in the “senior management team” is remotely interested in doing anything that might rock the apple cart. Everyone who did has gone… Waggott, Fraser Read, Eustace, LOADS more whose names aren’t so well known but were frustrated/bullied out of the door. I have absolutely no reason to doubt @glen9mullan’s info on what’s happening on the playing side, and I’ve got plenty of first hand accounts to suggest it’s just as toxic on the off pitch side of things.

This. The one constant has been Suhail. 15 years at the top of the tree, most of which went under the radar somehow. So…. not that the owners ever define their Mission Statement or their Goal for a season… if that was achieving promotion then that would bring accountability. I mean at any other club sitting in the top 6 then losing your manager and failing to reach the play offs (never mind promotion) would be considered a failure, a monumental one at that. "How did it go so wrong?!" the owners would ask after another £20m was allegedly frittered away for a season. "Blooming 'eck Suhail, you keep at it lad, another 15 years and you'll get the hang of this!" they'd chuckle in India. However, the Goal, the Mission for the season is never defined. Ask most supporters come August every year and their expectations are that the club will do all it can to be promoted. What an assumption to make. One that I make myself I hasten to add. I mean if they want any chance of getting their money back the only way to do so is through promotion to the Premier League isn’t it? Everyone knows that don't they? It's obvious isn't it? You wouldn’t know. I don’t feel a burning desire to get there do you? There are plenty of Rudy's out there, we've had a revolving door fitted for them, but Suhail has to go. Why on earth he is still here now is a complete mystery. If you judge him on my goals and what I’d like to see Blackburn Rovers achieve every year for the last 15, he’s a walking failure. A loser. And after this last transfer window I'd suggest he's going to fail again. You’ve really got to wonder what the owners see in him after 15 years.

Updated list Expiring in 2026 - Tronstad, Forshaw, Hedges, Mullarkey-Matthews, Kahn, Davies, Farkas, Strich, Dlamini, Wood, Boggan, all current 2nd year scholars including Tyjon Expiring in 2026 but with an option - Honor, Pratt, Olson, Batty, Duru, Montgomery, O'Grady-Macken, Loan expiring in 2026 - Loan expiring in 2026 but with a purchase option - Baradji, Gardner-Hickman Expiring in 2027 - Toth, Pears, Wharton, Carter, Garrett, Cantwell, Kargbo, Edmondson, Doherty, Eze, all current first year scholars including Higgins Expiring in 2027 but with an option - Barrett, Goddard, Pickering, McLoughlin, Ribeiro, Gueye, Ohashi, Litherland, Houghton, Powell, Expiring in 2028 - O'Riordan, Tavares, Expiring in 2028 but with an option - Atcheson, Miller, Alebiosu, De Neve, Gudjohnsen, Morishita Expiring in 2029 - Expiring in 2029 but with an option - Henriksson, Michalski

If it's true how would the owners even know or care about it? I was told it was wholly down to Gestede who controls the STC and Academy. I don't know about the catering at Ewood (I'm thinking hot-dogs) but Gestede has no influence over that.

I just got caught up on the rumors about Gestede bullying staff and demanding a woman employee "cover her arms". Unbelievable nerve from that deeply mediocre journeyman footballer to think he's cock of the walk just because he fell ass backwards into a corporate position with some small amount of power over others. If it's true he should be sacked immediately.

We’ve seen this with Broughton and Waggot before, it’s the same playbook from Pasha being rolled out again. Have the puppets front up and take the heat for this idiotic cost cutting agenda. All the fan/influencer/media attention and anger will be focused on the puppets instead of Pasha/Venkys. Once the puppets have sufficiently deflected attention from Pasha/Venkys they will be thrown under the bus and replaced with the next set of puppets alongside promise of a new project. It’s literally the same cycle on repeat. Pasha is always there, ensuring he and Venkys are absolved of blame. He has people believing that the owners are still naive and victims, 15 years in and being taken advantage of by the designated puppet (this year Gestede) - all the while he remains, pulling the strings and managing the decline of the club.

Can I just butt in here and ask that we don’t accuse posters of being ‘club plants’ just for having a contrasting opinion please. I get many of us are frustrated about the transfer window and club as a whole for various reasons, but many are not and simply want to support the team while engaging with other fans.