Last season, Blackburn Rovers recorded their best league finish since relegation from the Premier League as they narrowly missed out on the play-offs.

Jon Dahl Tomasson's side ended up in seventh, missing out on goal difference after a stunning comeback at The Den. Supporters who made the trip South left London knowing that their fate had not been decided on matchday 46 but in the game before that.

Goals had been the deciding factor. Quite literally in the goal difference sense but, more importantly, in converting big chances that would have seen them win enough matches to finish comfortably in the promotion shake-up. If only they had a 20-goal-a-season striker...

Remarkably, there was a time when Rovers had two and still didn't make the top-six. Rewind eight years and, under the stewardship of Gary Bowyer, Rovers were amongst the highest scorers in the Championship with Rudy Gestede and Jordan Rhodes leading the line.

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The Frenchman netted 20 Championship goals, with two more in the FA Cup for good measure. It's a strike partnership that was the closest thing fans had seen since Alan Shearer and Chris Sutton.

The art of goal-scoring can not be simply boiled down to one simple equation. There are so many ingredients that have to go into the pot in order to create the right goal-scoring concoction. Whatever was in the pre-match soup that year, it worked for Blackburn Rovers.

Gestede never rediscovered the same scoring form elsewhere as he did at Ewood Park. His time was shorter than many would've liked; he plundered goals for 18 months before pastures new came calling.

Bowyer was a huge draw for the big striker, who would initially join on a loan deal before signing permanently at Rovers. As he sits down with The Lancashire Telegraph for an exclusive interview, it's easy to understand how the environment got the best out of him.

"He (Bowyer) was like 50 per cent of it, Gestede explains. "I knew about Blackburn, it was the perfect time for me to come. He took young players who were under the radar and he could see potential in them. Cairney, Ben Marshall, Corry Evans, Grant Hanley, Marcus Olson at the back and he gave them the right environment. He created a team with great potential.

"For me, it was important to play week in, week out, and they gave me that chance. It was the only time that I have been to a club where I've had the same manager for more than one year. When you have the same manager, you can earn that trust, I had the trust of my (strike) partner and we got the ball in the box for either Jordan or me to get on the end of it. 

"If you look at the best clubs in the world, they have managers there for years. Liverpool, Man City. Tottenham are struggling because they keep changing managers, Chelsea are. It's key. Teams like Brentford and Brighton, it's easy to realise, I don't understand why teams keep changing managers after five games. Blackburn is doing well because they stick with the same manager for a while."

Looking back, it is remarkable to think that a star-studded team with the quality of Rhodes, Gestede, Cairney, Marshall, Conway, Hanley and Co were 11 points off sixth when May came calling. Gestede regards that as a big 'failure.

"We had a plan and it worked but we didn't make it to the play-offs and that was a failure," he admits. "When you see who went up that year, Watford, we had nothing to fear when we played them, we were better than them overall. We missed a few games where we dropped points. Drawing at home where we should have won. It was difficult when you don't have the power in your hands."

Together, Rhodes and Gestede were imperious. To have two match-winners in a side was unheard of at Championship level. It was unsurprising that there were knocks at the doors with 41 league goals between them.

It was a partnership that took time to gel though, despite how natural it might have looked to Saturday punters. That sort of chemistry is like lightning in a bottle and for both strikers, it faded away from Ewood.

Gestede never replicated his prolific goal-scoring away from Rovers. Intriguingly, the net hasn't bulged as often for his striker partner, Rhdoes, since leaving Ewood either.

Ill-fiated spells at Middlesbrough and Sheffield Wednesday have seen his reputation drop. Neil Warnock wasn't impressed at Huddersfield Town either and he's back in Lancashire with Blackpool. 

But that sort of quality in front of goal doesn't just vanish. It doesn't evaporate. As Gestede explains, there is so much more than the player himself that makes a striker successful.

"I think we took a few games to adapt to each other," he explains. "A striker is always focusing on the goal and he was used to playing up front by himself. When he realised I was an asset for him, I took players' focus, it gave him more space and he could score even more goals. We were a strength to each other and we both scored 20-plus goals that season.

"It's all about communication, he is not a big talker but he is a very clever guy. You don't need to talk for him to understand, he is a clever guy. He understood how I could help him to score goals too. He is a cool guy in the changing room and when you play with clever players, when you put your ego aside for the best for the team, you play your best. That helped us perform even better.

"When you play with two strikers, it means you can get more space in the box. But if you don't feed the striker, you won't score goals. You saw when Rhodes went to Middlesbrough and the game was so different. It's not because he lost his quality in front of goal, if you don't feed him, he won't score goals. It's that simple." 

Whilst Rhodes was around for longer, the Premier League came calling again for Gestede. Having dropped down from the top flight with Cardiff to discover his best football at Rovers, there was an understanding he'd be allowed to go again.

Whilst his final destination was Aston Villa in a £6million deal, it was recently-promoted Watford who were first at the table. In a 10-day period during the summer of 2015, Gestede's future flip-flopped three times. 

For Villa, it went very quickly but for a long time, I was negotiating with Watford. They were not willing to spend more than £4.5m on me, Rovers were not satisfied with the offer. Villa came in and offered £6m and that was all they had to offer so we had a few chats and managed to get the deal over the line.

"When I first joined Blackburn, I came from the Premier League. I said to Gary Bowyer, 'if I'm doing well, I want to go back to the Premier League so please don't stop me'. After the first season, I scored 13 goals, I had a few links but nothing concrete so I wanted to stay and establish myself. Then I scored 21 goals and I had a chat with Gary Bowyer and I said that an offer was coming that could be right for the club, right for me and right for my family and I really want to go. He said that he wouldn't keep me at Blackburn.

"The clubs have to think about themselves which I understand, the finance side of it. They bought me for a small amount from Cardiff and sold me for millions. The business was good for them after one and a half years. When they refused to let me go to Watford, there was 10 days before the Villa deal. 

"I said to them, 'OK, can we talk about a new contract if you don't want to let me go'. I didn't know if another club would come in at that time. They said no and so I knew it was about getting the best price. I was not desperate to leave because I had a comfortable life and I liked it there. Life in Manchester was good and the people at Blackburn were very nice. But you want to play at the highest level. When Villa came, I said we have to find the right deal for both of us."

Remarkably, Gestede only once played under the same manager in successive seasons. At Blackburn. The man who took him to Villa, Tim Sherwood, was sacked just weeks into his move. Gestede wasn't to Remi Garde's taste.

A January switch to Middlesbrough brought a similar tale. Aitor Karanka lasted slightly longer but three months after Gestede's move, he was out of the door. Garry Monk had other ideas for his strike force.

After leaving Middlesbrough in 2020, Gestede rounded off his career with trips to Melbourne City, Panetolikos and Esteghlal before hanging up his boots, aged 33. His fondest memories are of Blackburn, a club he still follows closely to this day.

"I have followed Rovers since I left," he openly declared. "There are some great people and it's a club that has a special place with me. I think they will do well this season, the executive team are doing a very good job with stability, five years with Mowbray and now they picked another good manager. They are doing well with a young team, they have a plan. The plan might take a few seasons to work but after two, three seasons, you can see it is working."

It's Rovers' long-term vision that Gestede wishes was more commonplace in football. He's aiming to change that as he embarks on a career in the boardroom rather than on the training ground or a TV studio.

Having been bemused by the self-inflicted turbulence he witnessed during his career, Gestede wants to become a chief executive and guide a club up the ladder with a long-term vision. Brighton & Hove Albion and Brentford are the model clubs he hopes to emulate.

"I took some time to think about it, I've had a break for a while, six, seven months. I have been doing a CEO sports organisation course in Manchester so I am in England two days a month for six months.

"I want to work with a club in the executive direction to have a say on the organisation of a club. I want to see clubs grow like Brentford and Brighton. When they had just gone up to the Championship, I'd said they'd be in the Premier League because of the way they are run, the stability they have. 

"They know how to make a plan and stick with it. I would like to find a club that can do that and we will see how high we can go."