Blackburn Rovers‘ head of football operations, Rudy Gestede says he the club have no intention of replacing head coach Valerien Ismael with Wayne Rooney this summer.
Rovers appointed Ismael in February following the departure of John Eustace, who opted to swap a promotion race for a relegation battle with Derby County. However, the former Watford boss suffered a dreadful start, failing to win any of his opening seven matches in charge.
This led to rumours that he could be dismissed at the end of the campaign, with bizarre reports linking ex-Birmingham City and Plymouth Argyle manager Wayne Rooney to the position. The 39-year-old has seen his managerial stock plummet over the last 12 months following his disastrous spell in the West Midlands before being sacked by Plymouth on New Year’s Eve.
Ismael has since recovered to guide Blackburn to three successive victories to keep their slim play-off chances alive.
Gestede Shuts Down Rumours
Earlier this week, Blackburn chief Gestede was asked about the speculation, telling the No Tippy Tappy Football podcast there is no truth in the reports:
“We cannot control the media. That’s their job to try to give information around.
“I don’t know if it’s from an agent or Wayne Rooney himself. I don’t think so, but you never know. It’s never been the plan.
“We are happy with Valerian, we want to give him time. We chose him because of the project, and it doesn’t make any sense to make a decision now.
“Valerian has just started, and we have been losing games, and the media said we were losing games because he had his hands in his pocket and he wasn’t showing emotions, and that’s why the players weren’t performing at their best.
“Now we are winning games, he still has his hands in his pockets, so what can they say about this now?”
Writer’s View
Ismael’s poor start at Ewood Park led to inevitable speculation, but Blackburn were never likely to make a snap decision. Eustace’s departure meant they were forced to make a change but after giving their new head coach a three-and-a-half-year deal, sacking him would have been costly. Furthermore, nobody really believed they would take a punt on Rooney. He may have done a decent job at Derby County, but it would be a shock to see him land another job in the Championship at this stage, especially with a club in the upper reaches of the table.
