However, one man who certainly holds legendary status at Ewood Park is Tony Parkes, and it’s great news that the Sheffield born former player, coach, assistant manager and caretaker manager of Rovers has returned as a part-time scout.

Parkes was signed by Rovers from Buxton for £3,000 in 1970 and, under the one-season wonder, Gordon Lee, became an established central midfielder in the side that won the old Third Division title.

Bobby Saxton appointed Parkes as a player-coach in 1980, and he retired from playing – having made 350 appearances in 12 years for Rovers – in 1982.

Over the next 26 years, Parkes stood in as caretaker manager on six occasions. Acting as interim boss after the departures of Bobby Saxton (86/87), Don Mackay (1991), Ray Harford (96/97), Roy Hodgson (1998), Brian Kidd (99/00) and Graeme Souness (2004).

In an otherwise almost perfect stint as manager of Blackburn Rovers, Mark Hughes made the horrific error of judgement to allow the news he was letting Parkes go as part of a backroom shake-up before telling the man himself. In 2004, Tony Parkes heard he had been sacked by the club he had served for 34 years from his daughter, who had in turn heard it on the radio.

Parkes has never been forgotten by Rovers fans. When a member of the playing or coaching staff shows the loyalty and dedication to stay at a team for all those years, they are a true legend. And this showed in Parkes’s testimonial where a Tony Parkes elite side took on a Rovers youth side.

Players like Tim Flowers returned, as did Kenny Dalglish who came in as a manager, but it was the return of Alan Shearer in a Rovers shirt that said it all. The man despised (undeservedly) by Rovers fans for the manner of his exit after becoming the darling of the club, came back and put on a Rovers shirt in tribute to one of the club’s longest-serving individuals.

The crowd of 13,000 also showed just how much Parkes means to the fans.

Every time Parkes took on the caretaker manager job, his name was thrown into the ring for the manager’s job. But I, for one, am glad he never got it. Once you take the manager’s job you are doomed to ultimate failure. And guaranteed, within five years, Parkes would have got his marching orders or walked out on the club after a dip in form. Instead, he remained a hero.

Welcome back, Tony.

- But wait, he denies saying this and is happy at Rovers Sky Sports

- Graham Fenton looking forward to Rovers reunion ITV

- Rovers legend Tony Parkes looks set to finally become a real manager! Lancashire Telegraph

- Daft geordie psychic reckons Blyth will beat Rovers Evening Chronicle

- Jack Straw turns down Blyth invitation due to foreign engagement Lancashire Telegraph

- Lucas Neill linked with return, very sceptical about this one… The Sun