Venky’s & Waggott Out Protest Ideas

[Mattyblue]

Yes, I didn’t quite understand the Gestede angle, low down the chain, even less clout than Swag-hail.

I’m nitpicking slightly, as it’s been a highly positive day, but the owners and those two should have been purely the targets for me, an ex-player on the football side is far more likely to get some sympathy from the fanbase.

[RevidgeBlue]

6 hours ago, SIMON GARNERS 194 said:

https://www.rovers.co.uk/news/2025/march/28/club-statement/

Nothing more than bollox.

Roughly translates as:

"We're aware of the fan unrest and we couldn't give a shit".

[J*B]

There’s no point targeting the owners, they haven’t been here in 13 years, aren’t coming back and are royalty in their homeland. 

[Mattyblue]

So we go after some no mark like Rudy Gestede? A completely insignificant individual, but by including him too you can dilute the message and it becomes scattergun.

[martonrover]

5 minutes ago, Mattyblue said:

Yes, I didn’t quite understand the Gestede angle, low down the chain, even less clout than Swag-hail.

I’m nitpicking slightly, as it’s been a highly positive day, but the owners and those two should have been purely the targets for me, an ex-player on the football side is far more likely to get some sympathy from the fanbase.

Gestede is being groomed (ooer Missus) by Waggott, and has shown himself to be a tit in the past, so I have no problem with him being included.

Another who should be nowhere near the corridors of power at Rovers.

My gut feeling is that he was the one who fancied Ismael.

[martonrover]

7 minutes ago, J*B said:

There’s no point targeting the owners, they haven’t been here in 13 years, aren’t coming back and are royalty in their homeland. 

Yes, Suhail is the nearest thing we can get at, and I’m glad he’s finally being smoked out.

[JHRover]

6 minutes ago, RevidgeBlue said:

Roughly translates as:

"We're aware of the fan unrest and we couldn't give a shit".

Also translates that they are going to try to divide the fanbase and blame these efforts for our slide down the table. They will stop at nothing to deflect and turning fans on fans is strategy #1 for this regime. 

[B16Rover]

9 minutes ago, J*B said:

There’s no point targeting the owners, they haven’t been here in 13 years, aren’t coming back and are royalty in their homeland. 

They are absolutely loathed in Pune if Reddit is anything to go by!

[Mattyblue]

Disagree on Gestede. As an ex-player on the ‘football side’, he’ll not be seen as fair game by a sizeable chunk of the fanbase in contrast to Venky bean counters like Swag-hail.

That was the only misstep for me today. It’s vitally important to keep the messaging tight as we need to keep as much of the fanbase as possible onside this time if it’s going to be different than all the previous campaigns.

Edited March 28 by Mattyblue

[StHelensRover]

It's always worth drawing attention to Gestede he shouldn't be getting off scott free.

It's not clear what his role is at the club and it's not clear why someone so inexperienced suddenly became a key decision maker (if he is?) at a championship club, without cutting his teeth elsewhere for such a role.

It doesn't have to be vitriolic towards him but he does deserve some scrutiny, I'm sure he's being paid handsomely for the privilege.

Edited March 28 by StHelensRover

[RevidgeBlue]

14 minutes ago, J*B said:

There’s no point targeting the owners, they haven’t been here in 13 years, aren’t coming back and are royalty in their homeland. 

I disagree slightly, over here the focus needs to be on making life for Waggott and Pasha as unpleasant as possible but there must be ways of causing them constant embarrassment back in India through the written, verbal and social media mustn't there?

[Mattyblue]

Don’t think like us brfcs-ers, think of the wider fanbase. Going after a ‘football man’/ex player ‘who’s doing ok with no budget, he brought in Makhtar!’ is diluting the waters.

I seem to be in the minority on here, fair enough, but think of those that need educating out there, Gestede is a distraction.

Edited March 28 by Mattyblue

[StHelensRover]

3 minutes ago, Mattyblue said:

Disagree on Gestede. As an ex-player on the ‘football side’, he’ll not be seen as fair game by a sizeable chunk of the fanbase in contrast to Venky bean counters like Swag-hail.

That was the only misstep for me today. It’s vitally important to keep the messaging tight as we need to keep as much of the fanbase as possible onside this time if it’s going to be different than all the previous campaigns.

I wouldn't worry too much about sympathy for Gestede, he's not much of a fans' favourite. Had a brief decent spell here but then couldn't wait to leave. Then like most who leave here, didn't go on to achieve very much, I don't think many are enamored with him

[martonrover]

1 minute ago, StHelensRover said:

I wouldn't worry too much about sympathy for Gestede, he's not much of a fans' favourite. Had a brief decent spell here but then couldn't wait to leave. Then like most who leave here, didn't go on to achieve very much, I don't think many are enamored with him

Exactly.

It’s neither here nor there.

He’s not held in great esteem by the fans, so no-one will be shedding any tears for him.

As long as Suhail is included , that’s what really hits home.

[Mattyblue]

Of course he isn’t some cult hero, and yes he is ’neither here nor there’, so why include him then?

He’s seen as ‘doing a job on the football side’, ‘so why is he being targeted? Thought they wanted to get behind the team?’ 

Think like Joe Bloggs that just watches a game at Ewood every other week, not us club forensics. Suhail and Swag sufficed.

Edited March 28 by Mattyblue

[John]

Well done @glen9mullan and all involved - loads of coverage generated today.

Regarding Gestede - was yet again a very odd appointment. 

[roversfan99]

22 minutes ago, RevidgeBlue said:

They've said they'll be there, and you wouldn't expect anything different really.

But that doesn't matter really, you've done a brilliant job of putting the state of the Club firmly back in the public spotlight.

The owners usefulness expired when they stopped putting money in around the same time as the Court proceedings and unless they're prepared to change their mind, they need to be gone ASAP.

In the very short term though the vitriol needs to be directed towards Waggott and Pasha, they've got away with murder for far too long whilst they run the Club into the ground and attending the remaining games needs to be made a pretty unpleasant experience for them.

I liked the softly softly approach of the guy who was on Talksport this morning. Ruled out action to directly disrupt matches as he acknowledged a lot of supporters still liked going to games and supporting the team. Makes you look reasonable and allows you to keep the moral high ground.

Well done to all concerned.

They have never been useful. They have to offset losses like the majority of Championship owners but they have not been allowing us to improve the squad for a number of years, well before the court case.

The only reason they didnt put in money in the last financial year was not because of the court case. It was because for them we had a fortunate one off sellable asset that meant that we actually kept a small profit. This financial year, they will have to put something in to offset the loss again.

Would you be happy for them to stay if the court case ended and they reverted back to what you perceive them to have been like before it started in the summer of 2023?

[RoverDom]

I'm with Matty but it's only a minor point on a really good day. To win more hearts and minds it would be better to shine the light more on swag and pasha than gestede.  No criticism intended, just feedback to consider / ignore as the process is refined. 

Gestede still deserves criticism and is so far out of his depth but he's a symptom.  Swag pasha and venkys are the disease. 

[Mattyblue]

Exactly that, Dom. Like you it’s just a bit of constructive feedback.

[JHRover]

I suspect in the not-too-distant future, maybe sooner than planned, Gestede will be occupying Waggott's role when slippery Steve has had enough and retires to Kent.

I don't think slippery Steve will give up the gravy train easily, but at almost 71 if the pressure and scrutiny builds he might just head off down the M6 with a boot full of loot and never be seen again.

Head stooge curtain twitcher will then need a replacement patsy and we know they won't appoint someone experienced or credible because such people wouldn't dance to the Venky tune. Gestede is on standby to step into slippery's shoes and keep the show on the road, allowing head stooge to remain in the shadows orchestrating things.

If they get really lucky Gestede will agree to do Waggott's job for much less money, continuing the cutbacks further. 

[47er]

22 minutes ago, StHelensRover said:

I wouldn't worry too much about sympathy for Gestede, he's not much of a fans' favourite. Had a brief decent spell here but then couldn't wait to leave. Then like most who leave here, didn't go on to achieve very much, I don't think many are enamored with him

Gestede is a key member of a failing admin so he's fair game.

[Waggy76]

6 minutes ago, 47er said:

Gestede is a key member of a failing admin so he's fair game.

Too bloody true he is!!! 

Let us have all the rats out! 

[RevidgeBlue]

7 minutes ago, roversfan99 said:

They have never been useful. They have to offset losses like the majority of Championship owners but they have not been allowing us to improve the squad for a number of years, well before the court case.

The only reason they didnt put in money in the last financial year was not because of the court case. It was because for them we had a fortunate one off sellable asset that meant that we actually kept a small profit. This financial year, they will have to put something in to offset the loss again.

Would you be happy for them to stay if the court case ended and they reverted back to what you perceive them to have been like before it started in the summer of 2023?

I'd rather they left and we got new owners who were well meaning and committed but who were also willing and able to fund the Club.

If you're saying that Venkys are choosing not to put money in as opposed to being prevented from doing so because of the Court case I agree with that. Whether or not in a year with no sales they would inject just enough money to prevent us from going under is yet to be tested. However Im fairly certain they'll never fund us properly in a way that would allow us to progress and or to develop and sell on players.

Hypothetically if the Court case was finished and they were still willing and able to inject £20m p.a. into the team and Club infrastructure regardless of net transfer activity then we might be better off with that than with well meaning but skint owners AS LONG AS we had proper management on the ground and a decent Head Coach to ensure the money didnt go to waste as it always has in the past.

. It's a moot point though as it will never happen; it seems fairly clear they've given up on the Club and they never employed suitable staff even when they had a modicum of interest.

[Mattyblue]

Obviously my point is being missed here. To be clear, I was massively against his appointment from day one (unlike a fair few on here), a ridiculous appointment, he’s out of his depth and shouldn’t be here - another symptom of the disease that is this ownership.

However, I accept that much of the fanbase don’t get in the weeds like we do, they won’t understand why you are going after ‘football’ people too - we need to bring as much of those fans along with us. 

Division is what the regime want and have utilised against us from day 1.

(But I’ll leave it here as I’ll keep repeating myself every time someone else goes ‘well, feck him, he’s fair game’, ‘he’s up Swag’s arse’ etc).

Edited March 28 by Mattyblue

[roverandout]

Great interview but it'll be swept under the carpet in a week's time by venky apologists.  We need to go for the jugular now