BLACKBURN Rovers have stepped up their bid to bring top boss Sven Goran Eriksson to Ewood Park.

The Sampdoria coach is believed to have visited the Brockhall training complex on Monday, although Rovers, understandably, declined to comment or substantiate it.

And hopes of an imminent end to the search for a new manager still seemed to be on hold today, with Tony Parkes expected still to be in charge at Leicester this weekend.

But if Rovers can persuade Eriksson to join them - whatever the timescale - they will be getting a top man.

Former England skipper David Platt worked with the Swede during his time with Sampdoria and was suitably impressed. He said: "The spirit in the squad was exceptional and the training methods of Sven Goran Eriksson enjoyable.

"He impressed me greatly with his flexibility, knowledge and openness in listening to the players' views. "I admire him tremendously. He's an exceptional man-manager, has great ability to communicate with players and is one of the great tacticians."

And the strength of the Ewood interest in Eriksson will relegate another name to recently enter the frame - former Parma coach Nevia Scala - to the back burner.

Scala, who parted company with the leading Italian club at the end of last season, is currently out of work but tipped to be among the challengers to replace Arrigo Sacchi as national coach.

Italian sources, however, claim he is a rank outsider to step into Sacchi's shoes, following the coach's resignation to return to AC Milan.

And the attraction as far as Rovers are concerned is that he would be instantly available.

They are aware of that but, so far, have been going down other avenues.

Scala had great success at Parma, taking them to a European Cup Winners' Cup triumph in 1993 and UEFA Cup success two years later. In between, they were runners-up in the Cup Winners' Cup final to Arsenal, just missing out on a remarkable European treble.

Rovers have been looking very closely at Serie A in their search for a successor to Ray Harford, which has now been going five and a half weeks.

Italian contacts said of Scala: "He is being tipped in some quarters to be the next national coach. But that seems unlikely.

"He would probably not rule himself out of a job such as that at Blackburn and could be tempted by the money. But, if another position came up in Italy, France, Spain or Germany, that would seem to be more realistic than moving to England."

There was nothing untoward reported about his departure from Parma, by mutual consent.

It seems that both parties simply felt it was time to end the association, a move which Parma might now be regretting.

Tickets for Saturday's game at Leicester will be on sale at Ewood until Friday (12 noon).

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