Spin doctors hide facts

WHEN is 'temporary' permanent? Answer: When John Williams is doing the spin doctoring.

We were told Rovers needed stability, which is why they gave Tony Parkes the managership.

A permanent manager would have off-loaded the deadwood that Brian Kidd bought (Grayson, Short, Harkness, Gillespie and Ward would do for starters) and seek to bring in one or two new faces of his own.

Three months from taking charge, Parkes is playing with the same team, the only difference being that he had the good sense to recognise that unless Damien Duff engineers it, this team is never going to win.

With a month to the transfer deadline, there is little hope that this can change. Criticism should not be aimed at Tony Parkes, an honest man doing his best.

But a temporary manager will always have the same result - he can produce the upswing that goes with any change of management, but, after a while, the same personnel inevitably fall back to the same level of performance.

Of course, you can excuse the Ewood management for missing this. After all, it is three years since exactly the same thing happened when Parkes had his longest spell of managing the Rovers.

The unveiling of the academy was the next piece of class PR.

All the facilities in the world are no use if the talent attracted is sub-standard. When Kenny Dalglish took his scouts with him, the standard of entry into the Rovers' junior sides dropped dramatically.

Nor can I think of any reason why youngsters should clamour to come to Ewood, Brockhall's facilities or not. When will we get a manager who seriously wants to blood young talent?

There does not appear to be any end to the downward spiral. The new fans who came when the club were in the Premier League are disappearing fast. No PR in the world is going to disguise that the hard core of us who will watch anything in a blue and white shirt is about 5,000. You can argue that all day, but not with those of us who have been there.

When that time comes, perhaps the Ewood officials will recall their inability to treat their supporters well. Another big game came around and once again the sections reserved for Rovers' fans were filled with opposition supporters.

How many times can the club get it wrong? No doubt, if this is raised, we will get the usual story of how difficult it is to prevent opposition fans getting hold of the wrong tickets.

How about stopping fans who are wearing replica shirts of the opposition getting in the stands reserved for Blackburn supporters? One can only draw the conclusion that the club simply does not care about the comfort of their fans.

Clubs constantly tell us that football is a business - therefore, they should be judged by business criteria. I can think of no way the club has moved ahead since 1995 and not all the under-achievers are on the field on a Saturday.

HARRY BERRY, Beechfields, Eccleston, Chorley.

Action time

ISN'T it time Rovers' Board and Jack Walker got their heads out of the sand and started to think about the long-suffering supporters who have seen their team go from playing the likes of Manchester United, Arsenal, Chelsea and Leeds, to playing Port Vale, Stockport and Swindon?

We have poor, lost soul Tony Parkes calling the team 'the Manchester United of the Nationwide League', when in actual fact they are its spoilt brats. We have an overpaid chief executive whose knowledge of football could be put into a matchbox with room to spare.

The club must look for a manager who will not buy players long past their sell-by date and will be strong enough to be his own man in the same mould as Kenny Dalglish, who bought well and in doing so won the league title.

And should the club find such a man, they should keep hold of him this time.

MR B J BOOTH, Rockcliffe Street, Blackburn

Wake up, Tony

YET another miserable defeat at Birmingham.

Wake up, Mr Parkes - at least until the end of the season and your contract.

It is teamwork that is missing. The team needs youth with leadership, not youth alone. The team needs experience.

Bring back Colin Hendry. His offer of help could be the only lifeline left in this sad season. What an uplift it would be for the beleagured fans.

In reply to letters on Alan Shearer. I was a fan of his. He was and still is a wizard of football and a prolific goal scorer. But he was not a man of honour. He should have put his truthful answers in back and white - yes or no.

He was lying to his fans. This was unforgiveable.

J McAULEY, Rhodes Avenue, Blackburn.

Use the youth

WHY do Rovers insist on wheeling out players who, despite being big-money signings, continue to remain unfit and mediocre?

I refer especially to the disappointing Swindon match when Gary Flitcroft was selected in favour of David Dunn. Do managers now feel obliged to play someone simply because of their price tag?

Surely, common sense should tell them to keep them in the reserves until match-fit. This would then allow home-grown talent to show its real potential.

Furthermore, the three things defenders fear are pace, skill and the capability of producing the unexpected. At present, the only striker in the squad who has these abilities is Matt Jansen - yet he, too, remains another under-utilised resource.

MR W P KELLY, Whalley Road, Clayton-le-Moors.

Bulky boys

I RECENTLY attended the Rovers youth side game against West Ham at Ewood, having already seen the first leg in London.

The game itself was of a high standard. The Blackburn boys were individually just as gifted as the visitors.

However, two things stood out - tactically, West Ham seemed much better prepared and the Rovers' boys were noticeably much bulkier in size.

I get the feeling someone at Brockhall is obsessed with weights and size.

Now, this is okay for American footballers or a budding Adonis, but absolutely useless for young footballers.

The lithe West Ham boys showed this in both games, with much more flexibility and freedom of movement.

Size does not matter in football. Ask George Best how many weights he used, or Ryan Giggs and David Beckham now.

It's no good spending millions on a state-of-the-art centre without the right principles and skills being taught. The building is only as good as the people running it. I think Jack Walker should check that his money is being spent wisely.

M OAKES, Browns Road, Bradley Fold, Bolton.

Poor show

MAY I express my bitter disappointment at Rovers' poor performances away at Bolton and at home against Swindon.

The lack of commitment and bottle was beyond belief.

The majority of Rovers' fans will agree that they don't mind getting defeated as long as the team have tried their best.

If these performances are their "best", then heaven help us.

The team played their hearts out in the FA Cup against Liverpool and Newcastle, but back to the Nationwide games and their heart is not in it.

I think Tony Parkes is the right man for the job, but he has to be strong and drop those players who aren't putting in 100 per cent.

If that means dropping them all, then, fair enough, put the reserve side out.

This was one of Brian Kidd's failures - he bought several players and continued to select them week in week out when they were not up to scratch. The fans will not continue to be fobbed off with excuses such as "They came for a draw" and "They didn't come to play football."

It is up to our team, especially at home, to create openings and take chances.

There is still time to make the play-offs if the team improves dramatically and keeps it up for the rest of the season, not just for two or three games.

M R WIGNALL, George Street, Rishton.

Policy puzzle

ALAN Shearer left Rovers under a cloud, along with other players, and if you look around the Premiership now, all of them are fitting in well at their new clubs.

New players have been brought in, much more inferior to the ones who have left.

What on earth is wrong with the board and management?

I can't understand the policy at all. We've one or two young players who are good, but the rest just don't seem up to the job.

We should have gone for a big-name manager in the first place instead of keeping Tony Parkes in charge. It's not going to work in the long run.

His team selection and substitution policy is hard to fathom. If it's not working at half-time, change it - don't keep waiting until 15 minutes from time and looking for miracles. We won't make the play-offs like this.

P BROADLEY, Beechwood Drive, Feniscowles, Blackburn.

Wright way

ARE we Burnley in disguise? In reply to last week's witty letter, the answer is, sadly, "No". Burnley have sensibly strengthened their squad at this crucial stage of their promotion push.

With the signing of Ian Wright they have demonstrated their ambition in a way which will strengthen their squad and raise their attendances.

Unfortunately Rovers so far have failed to do this, even though they clearly lack quality in several areas including strikers with any kind of finishing ability.

What a lift it would have been to club and fans had Rovers made a signing of this nature. It's a bit galling for Rovers fans to see Burnley showing the way.

ANDREW Berry, Duckworth Street, Darwen

House of cards

THIRTY steps forward and 28 backwards - it's official. The only difference between the Rovers now and of 10 years ago is a new ground and a decent youth policy. The first team is the worst I have seen since 1990, but at least the team of the past had some pride to wear the blue and white not like the present overpaid, under-achievers who don't give a damn for the supporters or the club.

Following the last three league games they should hang their heads in shame. And what of our illustrious board of directors? How anonymous can they be in these troubled times?

If this was industry, the whole lot would be sacked without question. How can they have allowed this to happen?

They are as much to blame as the players, after all they made all the disastrous decisions - selling Kevin Gallacher when he clearly wanted to stay; never building on our one and only success; sanctioning the purchase of less-than-mediocre players at ludicrously over inflated prices and completely decimating the one-time best team in the country and replacing it with second and third-rate players. Be warned, this club could easily become a house of cards, because without Jack Walker's backing there will be one almighty 'bang' when this bubble finally bursts.

IAN SHAW, Mellor Lane, Mellor.

Time to buy

ROVERS are buying a goalkeeper for cover, but I think Tony Parkes needs to get a goal scorer and quick. The players on the books are not getting the goals they should and no-one is making them.

We got rid of Gallacher who got goals and made them and Wilcox who also played his part in goals and making them. But we haven't bought a forward to replace these two players. Why? Tony Parkes must go in the transfer market quickly if Rovers are going to get in the play-offs.

MR J LIVESEY, Accrington Road, Blackburn.

Pick Jansen

WE are going from bad to worse down at Ewood Park.

Trevor Francis said he was surprised that we only played one striker up front on Tuesday night, not as surprised as I was.

We have a problem at the moment, not putting the ball in the net, so what do we do. Go out and buy a goalkeeper, when our third and fourth choice keepers are both internationals.

And to rub salt in the wounds, one of the best strikers of the last decade signs for Burnley. Apart from these amazing decisions down at Ewood, the one that makes me the most sick is the decision to lave out Matt Jansen, week after week.

PETER EASTWOOD, Cloverfields, Blackburn.

Parkes bonus

AT least Tony Parkes has helped Rovers pull away from the relegation zone they were once in. I think anything extra this season would have been a bonus.

A GOULDSBROUGH, Monmouth Road, Blackburn.

Converted for the new archive on 14 July 2000. Some images and formatting may have been lost in the conversion.