ROY Hodgson hit out at Rangers today for the way they have handled the Colin Hendry situation - and claimed they had tried to "steal him."

And the Ewood boss, remarkably, has still not yet ruled Hendry out of his plans for the new season, believing he could yet remain a Rover.

The manager expects the Hendry saga to be sorted out within the next few days, but does not know which way the balance will tip.

"I do think the club has bent over backwards in order to satisfy Colin and to make life as easy as possible," he said.

"The only pain we receive is that we are obliged to read that it is suggested there is any justice at all on the side of Glasgow Rangers.

"The fact is we had a player two weeks ago we thought was definitely in our plans. Because of intense pressure put on him by another club we now seem likely to lose him.

"I find it hard to accept that people should even suggest there is any pressure being put on Glasgow Rangers by Blackburn Rovers.

"All the pressure, all the blackmail, all the problems are coming very simply from them to us.

"I still don't rule out the situation that Colin Hendry could be playing for Blackburn Rovers this season because it seems to me Glasgow Rangers were intent on stealing him and not actually buying him.

"It seems to me if you want to buy something you should first of all find out the price." Hodgson also believes that Jack Walker and John Williams have done everything they could not only to be fair to Hendry but also in their dealings with Rangers.

And he pointed out that if Rovers had decided themselves to sell Hendry to another Premiership club the price would surely have been much more than five million.

Hodgson added that while he expected a decision on the transfer in the next couple of days it might not necessarily be that Hendry was leaving.

In that case, he thought the player might well resume training with the squad on Monday and could still feature in the opening Premiership game against Derby in two weeks time.

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