IT IS not difficult to understand why the Rovers' players have responded so well to Tony Parkes when you hear him give a post-match assessment of a game.

Tony speaks with more candour, clarity and good humour than practically anyone else I have heard in the game, and that cannot help but rub off on the players.

The other key to his success is in my view even more important yet, blindingly simple and obvious. Picking what you consider to be your best team and formation and sticking to it is not exactly "rocket science," to borrow a Brian Kidd expression, but is surely the main reason why the players are finally starting to function as a unit, and with more confidence.

Over this marathon 46-game season, there will be many occasions when changes will be forced due to injuries, suspension and temporary loss of form. This is hopefully where the quality and depth of Rovers' squad will come to the fore, but it does not mean that changes should be made for the sake of it.

This was my main worry when the club were planning the appointment of a new manager who may well have felt under pressure to impose his own style and chop and change things by bringing in a couple of his own players.

In my view, this would have been detrimental and the final key to the equation simply lies in convincing the players once and for all that, when playing to their true potential, they are as good as any team in the division and that as a squad, even now, they are in a better position than any to claim a promotion place. With 75 points still at stake, the players must have it drummed into them that a play-off place is the very least that is acceptable. They must also be made to understand that if they continue to play to their potential, maintaining the consistency shown over the last seven games, an automatic promotion spot would not only be very much up for grabs, but would be more likely than not.

Finally, I hope the complete transformation under Tony Parkes will stop the ridiculous and hysterical criticism of Jack Walker in recent weeks.

Brian Kidd had to go because, for whatever reason, the players were simply not responding to him. The worst thing would have been to limp along until after Christmas, by which time the club would have been faced with dropping straight through to Division Two.

I do not recall any of the people speaking with the benefit of hindsight complaining at the time Messrs Harford, Hodgson and Kidd were appointed. I think the Board can consider themselves rather unlucky that at least one of these men, who all carried enormous reputations, did not turn out to be a resounding success. If anyone can get it right, Mr Walker can, and Rovers' fans should be reassured that he is prepared to keep "swinging the bat" to this end rather than just letting things drift.

Don't forget that the list of teams which have won the Premiership still reads: Manchester United, Blackburn Rovers and Arsenal.

Get off Jack's back and leave the Rovers knocking to the national press. With the eventual right managerial appointment and Mr Walker's continued support, we can again be challenging the top clubs in two to three years time.

For what it is worth, my choice for permanent manager would be Joe Kinnear, who in the past has specialised in making a silk purse out of a sow's ear, unlike the previous three incumbents who made a sow's ear out of an extremely expensive silk purse.

SIMON J LEIGH, Wycollar Road, Blackburn.

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