Tony Parkes: Blackburn Rovers Legend Dies Aged 76

Former Blackburn Rovers player and coach Tony Parkes has died, aged 76. Parkes was synonymous with Rovers after playing and working for them for 34 years. He made over 400 appearances as a midfielder before going on to work under 16 different managers, including Kenny Dalglish during the Premier League title-winning season in 1994-95. Parkes also had six different spells as caretaker manager for Rovers before he left in 2004. In 2020, he was diagnosed with Alzheimer's disease and his daughter Natalie announced that he had died on Wednesday. Parkes joined Rovers from non-league Buxton in May 1970 and helped the team to the third-tier title in 1974-75. In an obituary, Blackburn wrote of Parkes: "A tough-tackling and tireless midfield grafter, who was prepared to do the unspectacular leg work in the middle of the park, he also liked to run with the ball and was a difficult man to stop in full flight. Furthermore, he possessed a centre-forward's eye for goal and scored a number of important goals from his midfield role." He retired from playing in 1982 after scoring 46 goals in 409 games for the club and took up the role of first-team coach to boss Bobby Sexton. Parkes was on the club's staff as they went from a second division team to Premiership winners in 1994-95 under the ownership of Jack Walker. On the club website, Rovers credited him for steering the club to top-flight safety in 1996-97 after the departure of boss Ray Harford with the team at the bottom of the league. He left Blackburn in November 2004 after one final spell as caretaker following Graeme Souness' exit for Newcastle and went on to scout for Leicester City before becoming Simon Grayson's assistant at Blackpool. He finished his coaching career there, perhaps fittingly, in a caretaker manager role after Grayson left for Leeds midway through the 2008-09 campaign and Parkes led the Tangerines to a 16th-place finish in the Championship. Blackburn said there will be a special tribute to him before their final Championship game of the season at home to Leicester on Saturday, 2 May. Former Blackburn striker and Match of the Day pundit Alan Shearer posted on X: "RIP Tony. A great man."