On the decision itself its upto the manager who his backroom staff are. The board will always support the manager on issues like this. Hughes feels Parkes qualities are working with players of first team calibre not developing a nucleus of young players from reserve team football to being able to handle first team action. Pity no role for Tony at academy level but I certainly under-estimated the mess the club was/is in. Fundamental changes were needed are they are happening.

Le Chuck- I posed the question to the Sky Sports's Gulilem Balague recently. It seems you like others on here have this false impression of De Pedro. He said that De Pedro has always been an over-rated player who looked good in flashes in the World Cup. To suggest he has been good or a star for Spain was incorrect. He also stated that the only offer he had since January was our one in the summer and the wages he is getting always ensured he would come to us. He summed up by saying he thought De Pedro was too slow to make a meaningful contribution in the Premiership.

I fell into the propaganda about De Pedro when he first joined. However from what I have heard he will never make an impression in this league. He is acutally enjoying the English way of life but he is unlikely to fit in our team especially in our present situation. He is a decent passer, crosser of the ball but that is all he offers. I dont see why not for now put Reid on the left as he played well there in his days at Millwall.

Looking for forward to seeing Gally lead the line tonight for the Scotland Under 21s. Hughes has told him he will be watching so there is a good incentive for a decent performance. Then after it will interesting to see MGP play for Norway again, seen him a couple of times and seems to play well for his national team. Could be a opportunity to impress others for him as well... Also the Australia team looks quite good- should be a good match.

Interesting stats they were giving on Sky's Monday night football. Newcastle have the joint worse defensive record in the Prem with ourselves. The presenter when talking to a Newcastle fan made the point that it must be bad if its the same as us.

Blackburn striker Jonathan Stead will not be making the Under 21 trip because of an ankle injury, he was substituted at half-time during the 1-1 draw with Manchester City at Eastlands. Rodney Marsh's view- http://www.skysports.com/skysports/article...1159830,00.html

Well you anti Dickov's- do you think we need him now?? We are not a top five team so I think we can say he is proving to be a good purchase. Of course there are still doubters but I must say I question how much you people actually know about football. Ask most managers and they would take Dickov and they would take him, even just to have him in the squad alone- but of course we have people on here who have managed businesses before...same thing. Sorry a drink fuelled rant but seeing the performances he is putting in makes me proud for him to be a Rover

Penalty... Am I dreaming- come on boys!!

Saturday afternoons such a depressing event these days. 4 games until Xmas and the signs are bad, very bad.

Just saw an interview with Parkes- he looks very sad, shellshocked and angry about the fact he read it in a newspaper. He said its just not Blackburn Rovers and he thought they could never act like this. Says he will try to stay in the game and he has no axe to grind with anyone at the club.

I can undertstand why Hughes is doing it. It is not about which side I am on, if its in the best interests of the club I will back it. Along with others the way it has come out and been handled is appalling for Tony. It is a disgrace in the way he has been treated not a disgrace that Hughes has sacked him. I can see what Hughes is trying to do and all I have been doing here is saying why he has done it- if you look at one of my previous posts I pretty much predicted the reasons why he has gone before they were made public.

Hughes has a lot in common with Souness. He is a winner, ambitous and aggressive as a person. However as we saw on the pitch he can control himself in his actions(apart from a few times). I feel the decisions he makes are balanced and measured. He recognises that we have one of the best academies in Europe and he wants to get more out of it. Also think Eddie N would of had some input on this from his background. Remember Henry Winter saying prior to Hughes taking the job here that he is regarded as a very intelligent man and whichever club gets him will benefit.

I think whats happened is that Hughes decided that he wants a coach who can develop young players controlling the reserves. The thought of re-structuring has come about through Kelly's departure to Leicester. The board meeting took place on Tuesday when Hughes revealed his plans. The board have since been looknig for an alternative position for Parkes at academy level but nothing is available. News broke unexpectedly overnight in the press as Williams was due to tell Parkes this morning.

Just in on Sky!! Hughes wants the link between the academy and first team to be better than it is. We have an excellent academy and it is not being utilised. The board were trying to find a position for Parkes at the academy but nothing is available.

John Williams was meant to tell Parkes this morning. Mark Hughes said today he is sad at the way the situation has been handled.

Parkes learnt of his departure from reading The Sun this morning. Nice way to go...

Reporter on Sky Sports News just said. Board meeting on Tuesday when Hughes made his proposals to the board -over night the news leaked to the press. However the news is not official yet. What an insult.

Absolute disgrace!!! Parkes has not even been told yet- media all talking about it and the man himself doesnt even know. Not even told face to face, what a shambles and a brutal end. Reason for Parkes leaving is that Hughes regards Parkes as a first team coach and there are no positions at the club for him.

Cannot forget the times when he stepped in the breach and saved this club. Thank you Tony you will not be forgotten and you are a true blue and white. Time to move on though Glyn Hodges (former Wales Under 21 Coach) takes his place.

Dont know if anyone mentioned Malcolm Macdonalds comments in The Sun today on the tactical mystery of what went on in Newcastle's game v Fulham, he was amazed. Like for us he was correct when he said you can only revert to three at the back when you have quick, athletic centre backs!!! Also what a joke on Your on Sky Sports last night- Peter Beagrie was talking about defensive troubles at Newcastle- then mentioned that Blackburn had major defensive problems as well under Souness for a while but Souness and his coach Saunders managed to sort it out! When was this exactly....

Marcus Babbel expains in this story he nearly became an alcoholic after his loan move to us. Also tells us what our players got upto on our 'training trips' to Gleneagles and Spain. http://www.sundaymirror.co.uk/sport/tm_obj...-name_page.html

Those were the days...... http://www.sportinglife.com/football/news/...l&TEAMHD=soccer

I always look back and think 'where did it go wrong'. With the supposed crown jewels when we got promoted. Jansen, Duff and Dunn. However I then think of Leeds plight and it makes things a bit easier. Now we have a manager who I believe will put more emphasis on tactics, training (physical/mental) and spending money wisely. All these things bode well for the club in my view. First things first though, we need to start picking up points.

Even at this early stage of the season this is a huge game. Norwich will be well up for trying to secure their first league win. Lots of hype surrounding the fact they have not won a league game yet. Whats the bet Huckerby proves he can play in the Premiership this game.... There could be a wee gap appearing if we lose and it will just heap more pressure on our squad. Liverpool game provided many positives but we still did not pick up 3 points and we have a really dire total at the moment. We have to win the battle in this match as it will be a real scrap. Dickov will play and hopefully the 2 Jays. Centre of midfield still concerns me, Tugay was silly in the last game with picking up bookings again and he really cannot be expected to defend properly. All he can do is run around a bit headless and attempts to put off opponents. Anyway I am rambling on..... Norwich 0 Blackburn 2 (Reid and Dickov)

All I have said is fact. I think the board were correct not to give funds to Souness. He had his fair share of money to spend. However he was told he would be given cash to stop the rot as it were. We knew he was a cheque-book manager when he took over so we cannot be surprised that he would struggle unless backed with money. For me this summer was wasted and due to the board not being able to make their mind up about where as a club we were going and now we are paying the price. John Williams said it himself recently that fans want to be entertained, well we have an old squad at the moment who are in for a bitter, long winter. Most of the blame has to be attributed to Souness but the board are far from blameless. Hughes for me is the one bright spark we have going for us. He is a clever man who will put more emphasis on training and preparation. These aspects will help us improve as a team when it is glaringly obvious we lack quality all over the pitch.