TONY Parkes expects to be still in charge of Blackburn Rovers when they visit title-chasing Wimbledon on Saturday.

And the caretaker-boss hit back at stories in the national media which claimed he had "revealed" Rovers were on the verge of appointing a foreign coach.

The national media have followed the Lancashire Evening Telegraph's line in making Sampdoria coach Sven Goran Eriksson favourite for the vacant Ewood job.

He is believed to have had secret talks with the club and visited Ewood and Brockhall.

But there do not seem to have been any further developments on the situation so far and Eriksson is not necessarily the only name in the frame.

Parkes, who has overseen a major revival that has lifted the club out of the bottom three relegation places for the first time this season, was asked for his opinions on the situation after seeing Rovers pick up another away point at Leicester.

He said: "Like everybody else, I read the newspapers and hear people talk and I would think the club are looking outside England.

"I've had a buzz from the job, knowing it's not forever. The club are looking long term. They are looking to get the club back to where it was 18 months ago. "I might be wrong but I would think they are looking outside of Britain.

"It seems that way. I will have done my little bit and hopefully it will be with me involved in the future."

Parkes re-iterated today that he was only giving his opinions, after being asked, but he said: "If they don't listen and then report things out of context, they might as well just print what they want to say anyway.

"Last week, when I said I didn't want the job, one report said that really meant I did want it!

"Everybody knows what the newspapers are looking for.

"Nothing changes as far as I am concerned and it looks like I will probably be in charge at Wimbledon.

"If that's the case, then we'll just get on with it as usual."

Parkes wasn't too happy either about reports that he had said Chris Sutton didn't get on with Alan Shearer.

"That's the sort of personal comment I wouldn't make," he explained. "What I was talking about was that, in a football sense, Chris wouldn't be unhappy to see Alan leave - because that gave him the chance to claim the number nine position."

"That sort of thing happens all the time in the game. But it's a football thing, not personal.

"Chris was out injured for a long time and now he's trying to show people that he's a £5 million player.

"Pride has to be a spur for him, I'm sure there's a lot he wants to prove."

There was brighter news for Parkes today over Garry Flitcroft.

The midfield man was carried off midway through the first half at Filbert Street on Saturday after damaging an ankle when he went in for a shot.

"He's not too bad. There only seems to be tissue damage and it's certainly not as serious as we first thought," he said.

"There could even be a chance of him being fit for Saturday's game at Wimbledon.

"If he doesn't make that game, then I would think he would be okay for the following match against Middlesbrough."

Jurgen Klinsmann, a one-time Rovers target is threatening to quit Bayern Munich. Klinsmann has scored just five goals this season and is critical of the defensive tactics of the German league leaders who are coached by Italian Giovanni Trapattoni.

"If it goes on like this, I'm leaving," he said as the Bundesliga began its two-month winter break.

Rovers have arranged their FA Youth Cup second round tie against Port Vale for Ewood tomorrow week, December 17 (kick-off 7pm).

The game should have been played before this weekend, but Vale and Preston didn't settle their first round tie until last Thursday and Rovers striker James Thomas is away on international duty this week with the Wales under-21 squad.

Rovers A lost 3-1 away to Everton on Saturday, Craig Chisholm scoring the consolation goal.

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