Parkes Sacked By Hughes !

[Tris]

Apparently he was having his breakfast at home before leaving for Brockhall when a friend telephoned to ask him if he had seen the papers. He hadn't of course.

Parkes drove to work as normal (goodness knows in what state of mind) and Williams confirmed to him that the story was true. Thanks very much John.

He was at work today because I interviewed him there.

Tony has a story to tell but he wants it kept quiet while the club is in trouble.

Really ?

Well next time you interview him, could you kindly ask him why, when Sky took the news crew to (presumably) his home, he told the world two blatant, bare faced lies ... that he'd not been to work and that he'd seen no-one from the club.

Otherwise when his Big Story comes out it's going to be totally unbelievable, because Parkes (according to your evidence) has no idea where he's been or what he's done there.

It looked like Tony Parkes on the TV, and sounded like him, he talked about doing things in his own time and in the proper way, and having taken lots of phone calls today, just before he went on (according to Jim) to blatantly lie to the world twice.

How strange.

[jim mk2]

Apparently he was having his breakfast at home before leaving for Brockhall when a friend telephoned to ask him if he had seen the papers. He hadn't of course.

Parkes drove to work as normal (goodness knows in what state of mind) and Williams confirmed to him that the story was true. Thanks very much John.

He was at work today because I interviewed him there.

Tony has a story to tell but he wants it kept quiet while the club is in trouble.

Really ?

Well next time you interview him, could you kindly ask him why, when Sky took the news crew to (presumably) his home, he told the world two blatant, bare faced lies ... that he'd not been to work and that he'd seen no-one from the club.

Otherwise when his Big Story comes out it's going to be totally unbelievable, because Parkes (according to your evidence) has no idea where he's been or what he's done there.

It looked like Tony Parkes on the TV, and sounded like him, he talked about doing things in his own time and in the proper way, and having taken lots of phone calls today, just before he went on (according to Jim) to blatantly lie to the world twice.

How strange.

Very odd.

Which shows you cannot believe what you see on television.

I know where I was today when I spoke to him.

[Tris]

Very odd.

Which shows you cannot believe what you see on television.

I know where I was today when I spoke to him.

shame he doesn't eh ??

[Poshrover]

Tony Parkes has left Blackburn Rovers after 35 years of loyal service.

The manner in which the sacking has taken place is regretful. I'm sure that everyone connected with the Rovers are saddened by todays developments and wish Tony all the very best for his future ventures.

Unfortunately football is a dog eat dog world and difficult desicions have to be made and i am positive Mark has reasons for his decision in relieving Tony Parkes from his duties. With a new regime installed over the last weeks it was inevitable that Mark Hughes wishes to bring in his own back room staff leaving no room for the old.

Tony Parkes has been a loyal servant To BRFC and Rovers fans will always be grateful for what he has done but in our present perdicament we have no time to feel sentimental the club we love is rock bottom of the premiership. I want Mark Hughes to do what ever is necessary to haul us up the league table, if this means standing on a few toes so be it.

Fans only remember winners not losers and it is time our great club got back to winning ways.

Lets not dwell on the past but look to the future we have a young manager who will make mistakes whether that be in the media or on the pitch so lets get behind the new regime because our premiership life depends on it!!!!!!!!!!

MARK HUGHES'S BLUE & WHITE ARMY!!!!!!!!

[1864roverite]

Tony Parkes. well for me, he was everything GOOD about Blackburn Rovers, loyal, straight and honest and a real genuine gentleman.

I feel gutted today, if we are to believe the ultimately shoddy disgusting way he has left then it says to me that there is something untoward happening within the club.

John Williams has always been at the forefront of media "rituals" at Ewood,how can he have allowed the club to treat a loyal servant like this ? Surely the blame lies soley at his feet.

I cant blame Mark Hughes for wanting to restructure, it makes sense but as with the last paragraph it saddens me greatly that noone had the nerve, the bottle, the guts or the common decency to inform TP of his predicament and sacking.

I hope Tony that you take some comfort in the fact that us Rovers supporters are fully appreciative of the way you have performed in each and every role that you have undertook at Ewood.

Your'e a true legend for the Blue and Whites. You deserved a much better ending and you surely leave BRFC with the sounds of nothing but praise from the hardcore supporters.

A man of true integrity, leave with your head held high and a real sense of achievement because without you BRFC may not be in the position it finds itself in today. For without you the club may well have sunk without trace over the past years.

thanks Tony and best of luck in whatever you move onto in life. Just one thing never ever take up the advice of one of our members, DO NOT join the enemy !

[SouthAussieRover]

The means of his dismissal indicate what an unprofessional board setup we seem to have at the moment.

Not only does it seem to be increasingly out of touch with the supporters, it now displays the crass handling of one of the clubs most loyal servants.

We're heading back to Division 1 or whatever its called and imho that's the standard of boardroom we have

Edited November 12, 2004 by SouthAussieRover

[Glenn]

jOHN wILLIAMS DOES NOT CARE ABOUT BLACKBURN ROVERS AND NEEDS TO GO NOW.

My campaign starts here.

Based on what ? I've had numerous meetings with JW and one thing that comes across is he cares very very deeply for the club. I also think he's doing an amazing job on the financial side, because there is no way on earth we should be playing with the big boys with our meager income.

I can see two possible scenarios for this debarcle, either someone responsible for press releases stuffed up and released it early (as several people have pointed out, it's not unusual to make the decision to terminate someones employment before long before you actualy tell them) OR someone privy to the info (which I'm imagining is the board, the trust and MH) decided to tell the press.

The one scenario I can't see is someone (JW or someone else) intentionally made the decision to release the story to the press but not tell TP. Think about it, it's just not going to happen.

As PAPR (the Press Agency Rovers use) have ignored all our requests to send us press releases (despite the club OKing it) I can't confirm when the release was sent out but it does seem, yet again, for the umpteenth time, Rovers screwups have been down to bad communication.

Let me repeat that for the skim readers

THE NUMBER ONE PROBLEM AT ROVERS IS ITS COMMUNICATIONS (i.e. PUBLIC/RELATION RELATIONS)

The standing / stewarding issue could have been nipped in the bud if only Rovers explained what they are doing to combat it.

The Tony Parks debarcle is down to letting unofficial leaking out too early

The whole SWI/Sports Soccer/Late Shirts would have been much less of an issue if the fans had been told WHY.

We've got rapidly falling attendances, but the club does little to end the myth that you need to be on the database to get Rovers tickets.

The list is endless, when you see the tireless work many inside the club do to make the club what it is today, but they leave themselves so criticism because they never get the message out to the people.

</rant>

One good thing has come out from this, at least tomorrow it'll give everyone something to bitch about other than the stewards.

[1864roverite]

is there a wicked plan in the life of BRFC ?

do the board want us in the Premiership any longer ?

Are the club seriously out of their depth ?

Are we heading back to the dark old days of pre Jack Walker or even worse Bill Fox ?

Are the powers that be preparing BRFC for life in the lower league and becoming the nearly club that everyone remembers from the 1980's ?

is there life on mars ?

Will my mate ever get the first round in ?

Will ABBEY ever give up alcohol ?

I am sure the answer is out there, somewhere.

[modes98]

jOHN wILLIAMS DOES NOT CARE ABOUT BLACKBURN ROVERS AND NEEDS TO GO NOW.

My campaign starts here.

I feel the exact opposite, I think he cares dearly about the club and would never do anything against the clubs interests. Thats why they searched out every possible role for him before letting him go. I am deverstated at the news but when somebody leaves i assume he would come back!

[jim mk2]

Very odd.

Which shows you cannot believe what you see on television.

I know where I was today when I spoke to him.

shame he doesn't eh ??

He knows where he was too: he just didn't want the world to know about it eh eh eh ??

[AlanSheppard]

I can only echo what's been said on here about Tony Parkes' service to Rovers. Thanks for your time as a player and on the staff. I can only remember you in the latter role but am appreciate the fantastic jobs you did as caretaker manager.

As for the dismissal itself. We all need to move on and it's difficult for any of us to know how effective TP was from day to day at Brockhall. The manner of the dismissal stinks though.

[Paul]

They are slowly ruining this once great club, jOHN wILLIAMS DOES NOT CARE ABOUT BLACKBURN ROVERS AND NEEDS TO GO NOW.

My campaign starts here.

In Administration:

Barnsley - League One - £3m debt, Ridsdale in charge

Bradford - League One - £13m debt

Crystal Place - PL - £22m debt in administration 1999. Lost £10m last season, going down

Derby - League One - £30m debt

Ipswich - League One - £31m debt

Leicester - League One - £50m debt

Oldham - League Two? - sold for £1 YES £1

QPR - League One - £11m debt

Swindon - League One - twice in administration

Wimbledon - League One? - moved the bloody club to MK

Struggling

Nottingham Forest - current debt £15m

Sheffield Utd - League One - broke

Norwich - PL - £7m debt rescued by Delia, going down

Manchester City - PL - £60m debt. Relegation will destroy them

Bolton - PL £38m debt - doing better than us

Sunderland - League One - £30m debt. 80 redundant

Sheffield Wed - League One - £27m debt. Ken Bates wants to buy them!

Watford - League One - sold entire squad

Coventry - League One - £59m debt now £25m

West Ham - League One - £24m debt

Leeds Utd - £100m debt, sold ground today - £25m debt still

Financially Sound

Charlton - doing better than us

Middlesborough - doing better than us

West Brom - going down?

Wolves - League One

BLACKBURN ROVERS in the Premier league, financially OK

Of the 26 clubs relegated from the PL in the last ten years only 5 are FINANCIALLY SOUND and in the PL. Only 3 are doing better than Rovers. John Williams and the entire board should be sacked. They are clearly all bloody useless and have no idea whatsoever how to run a football club. As for appointing Mark Hughes as manager, well only 85% of this MB thought it was a good idea so there's another fine mess they've made of it.

Yes Tony Parkes has been treated badly. Yes mistakes were made but the club goes on. When will we ever stop moaning? The only thing available for criticism is the bloody board/stewards/police so lets all have a go at them. If Hughes had been here a year you could have a go at him

We are in the sh!t because the players are a bunch of idle ###### who don't deserve to be at Ewood. Pure simple fact. Don't blame the board for anything other than backing Souness with the cash to buy them.

Think I'll take my STs back tomorrow as I just can't take anymore. Anyone want three tickets for City?

[SouthAussieRover]

Think I'll take my STs back tomorrow as I just can't take anymore. Anyone want three tickets for City?

Yes please and a time machine to get me there

[theroverdude]

Tony Parks has served the club for 35 years, during this time there has been no doubting his loyalty. BRFC & the fans should always be grateful to him 4 this. However things change, we need to change things if we are to get out of this mess. Sparky wants to bring in all his own backroom staff, this is his decision and i think everyone should respect this as he is the manager and person responsible for bringing about this change.

All those people saying that coz of TP loyalty he should be found a role within the club no matter what it entails is in my opinion disrespectful to him. If i was in his place i would rather leave than be placed in a deadend role where i knew that what i had to say would not be listened to.

The way the sacking was handled was wrong, and maybe the board were to blame for this. but this doesnt give the right to start calling for JW's sacking. they have only ever done what they believe is in the best interests of BRFC and have always acted on this.

This is the time all the fans get behind the team and club as a whole and hope we start rising up the table.

[Jammy]

I am sad to see Tony go, he has been part of the club for as long as I have supported them, the way he has been dismissed is a disgrace.

Other than a few good luck message posted on here, is there any other way the fans can show there appreciation for the loyal Rovers man himself?

Good luck Tony!

[broadsword]

If we could see past the "Tony is a great servant" stuff for a sec (well-intentioned and deserving though it is), can we please not lose sight of teh fact that Rovers have agreed to termnate the contract of teh reserve team coach.

If it wasn't for the years of service it'd be completely unremarkable.

Yes, it looks shabby, and I bet the board wish they'd done things differently.

But that's it. No-one's died.

[wicklowrover]

Not only has Tony Parkes been a great service, he has also done a good job when given the chance.

Under Souness he was not given the chance to have any great input, so he can hardly be held accountable for the failures of that era. He had a pretty impressive record when ever he was the caretaker manager... far better than Mark Hughes who has us bottom of the table so far.

[Tris]

Very odd.

Which shows you cannot believe what you see on television.

I know where I was today when I spoke to him.

shame he doesn't eh ??

He knows where he was too: he just didn't want the world to know about it eh eh eh ??

I totally defer to jim mk2 in this discussion, and apologise for any inference that Jim may have been telling porkies.

The Parkes interview which went out at about 10 to 7 tonight on Sky Sports News - that I referred to in previous posts - has been entirely dropped from their rolling "through the night" news output.

They are now showing a completely different interview with Parkes which looks like it was filmed in the offices of PAPR (ie c/o Paul Agnew) or somewhere similar, and the quotes Parkes makes in this new interview are also completely different.

There is no reference to the quotes I have posted previously, which I saw and heard come from the lips of Tony Parkes.

Apart from having to apologise to Jim, this troubles me very deeply. Why did Parkes do the first interview? Who advised him to do the later interveiw? How can Sky Sports News broadcast something and then replace it with something which is contradictory?

Jim's Big Story theory looks like the best explanation for all of the above. If my employer treated me like Rovers have just treated Tony Parkes, I'd go at the @#/?s all guns blazing.

[Tris]

Which shows you cannot believe what you see on television.

read, understood and admitted you are right

**** ... it's even YOUR employers TV station !!

are you allowed to contradict ?

[SouthAussieRover]

Which shows you cannot believe what you see on television.

read, understood and admitted you are right

**** ... it's even YOUR employers TV station !!

are you allowed to contradict ?

An exclusive in itself:)

[philipl]

I know this emotional but since when was following a football club an exercise in Cartesian logic?

I feel gutted.

A huge part of why I support Blackburn Rovers died with this sacking. Tony Parkes is Mr Blackburn Rovers. He is someone who made our club different. An all round nice guy who showed that nice guys have their place in modern football.

Tony, you are a hero. Thanks for all 34 years at Ewood Park.

[Jammy]

I can't remember who's quote this is (or similar to this):-

"Football clubs have been around for over a 100 years and we are only custodians of them for a short while, as long as you leave it in a better postion than you found it, then you've done ok!"

and Tony did that every time!

[des]

all the best tony, thanks for all that you have done

the way it was done was not good

however if MH thinks its better for the club then he has to do it, however time will tell if its the right decsion

[Ricky]

I wonder if emailing John Williams when I got in from the pub last night was such a good idea???

[waggy]

if there is anything good to come out off this,i have seen tris eat his words