In the Championship – Managers keep on moving

He's back at Palace now leaving Hull without a manager and they have been heavily tipped to replace him with Colchester's Phil Parkinson. He resigned last week at Layer Road but the chairman refused to accept his resignation but it seems sure he'll be out of there just as soon as he returns from holiday. Hull meanwhile have approached Middlesbrough coach Steve Round but have been knocked back by Round himself who would prefer to stay with the Premiership club.

Just hours after Taylor made the inevitable move to Palace came the certain return of Tony Pulis to Stoke. Now that's left most of the Stokies upset at the thought of Pulis style long ball football again. They needn't worry, Pulis has told them that's exactly what they will be getting.

So they've got the chairman they don't like back at the helm and the manager they didn't want to return having just done that. It must be a mighty fine place for football, there cannot be a club that seems to encourage so much turmoil. It looks as though Pulis' first move will be to sell Sammy Bangoura, but he'll be spending soon and probably this time it will be OK for him not to go spending his money abroad.

Meanwhile Plymouth are looking for a manager again, less than a year since Pulis replaced Bobby Williamson. They have been very tight lipped but Ian Holloway, now with the most immaculate of gardens, is still the most likely replacement.

This morning at Deepdale, Paul Simpson made his first appearance as Preston manager having turned down the option of extending his stay at Carlisle. The former Manchester City and Derby player has turned the Cumbrians round in the last two years and despite standing at just 5ft 7ins he will look a giant in the Preston dug out next season.

Paul Simpson the new Preston boss

He'll have to build without the services of Claude Davis. The Jamaican international central defender was in demand with all three of the clubs promoted to the Premiership trying to sign him. Sheffield United won the race with a deal that could net Preston £3 million. What will Warnock do with him? Does he not know he's a centre half and not a striker?

It is a case of one in and one out at Bramall Lane with defender Simon Francis making a return to the Championship. He's not had the best of times there since signing from Bradford City and has now joined new boys Southend United.

Early last week Barnsley were hoping to hang on to the influential Stephen McPhail as well as being keen to sign Newcastle forward Michael Chopra. In the end they managed neither and both players have signed for Cardiff City. Dave Jones is making a number of changes to his squad, as is Micky Adams at Coventry and he splashed out a million this week on West Ham defender Elliott Ward who had looked odds on to sign for Plymouth where he had a successful loan period last season.

Where's the money coming from at the Ricoh? Simple, it is from Paul Fletcher's Operation Premiership which aims to get the Sky Blues back in the top flight within three years. This week the campaign has seen them appoint two new associate directors who have both made significant investments. Those investments will go straight into Adams' budget.

They don't get everything right though and the new kit launch had to be cancelled. The idea was to launch it at a special fashion show with tickets for the event priced at £85, yes you have read that figure correctly it does say £85. That price though did include a shirt valued at £40. Ticket sales were slow and brought such an idea to an end, the kit will now be launched at the club's open day.

Crewe's Stephen Foster is on his way to Barnsley and a two year contract and finally Joleon Lescott's move to Everton was concluded after it looked as though it would fall through. There are some transfers not going to happen though, that's if you believe what their clubs are saying.

Ben Watson is staying at Palace according to the manager

Ben Watson will not be leaving Palace says Taylor but that will not discourage Bolton who are keen to sign him. Neither will clubs be put off the ‘hands off' warnings at Stoke for Karl Henry. The imposter revealed last week that they had turned down two offers and it would be no surprise to see yet another player heading out of the Windy City.

I think we all remember December 2004 and the antics of Wigan Athletic in trying to unsettle Robbie Blake at Burnley. Well they are at it again, and Birmingham have complained at their attempts to unsettle Emile Heskey. Manager Steve Bruce, a former Wigan boss during his nomadic period, has hit out at scavenger clubs following Brum's relegation.

Just over a week ago Burnley announced a potential game against Chievo Verona, and we are not the only club on our way out of the country for pre-season. Derby are going to Austria whilst Leeds are off to Norway, but for a couple of clubs it is further afield. Palace are heading for the Vancouver area of Canada whilst Sheffield Wednesday are going Stateside.

Burnley fans are going out to Italy in numbers, with many having benefited from budget flights under £100 along with low accommodation prices. For the Wednesday fans there is a trip being organised for them at a cost of just £1,439 per person. I think we'll stick to mainland Europe.

Some clubs are facing the possibility of changes in the board room. There's an EGM at Southampton in a couple of weeks which could see Rupert Lowe ousted. But he's received support from manager George Burley in the last few days and could yet survive the latest attempts to remove him.

There'll be no return for Bob Murray at Sunderland. The fans are delighted to hear the news that he's resigned (again) and this time they want it to be for good. With the potential take over it could finally signal the end for Murray.

He took over from Cowie in the 1980s and has led Sunderland to better times, bringing them the Stadium of Light and the Academy of Light. But he lost the fans when there was no big investment on players at a time when they finished seventh twice in the Premiership.

QPR's commemorative shirt - for a few hours last week

Finally this week's entertainment at QPR has been good, be it pre-season friendlies or commemorative shirts. They incredibly arranged a pre-season friendly against Franchise, calling it off only when their fans complained.

Chairman Gianni Paladini had a real go at his fans and apologised to Franchise. He would have been much better off learning about Winkelman's 2001 plans to move QPR to Milton Keynes after Luton had turned him down. QPR could so easily have been the club who lost their club rather than Wimbledon.

If that wasn't bad enough then what better way to end than this week's news of a 125^th anniversary shirt for QPR. All a good idea you say, but it wasn't the best of ideas to choose an all blue shirt that was a 100% replica of a 1980s Chelsea shirt. They have apologised to the fans for that one, have withdrawn the shirt, and promised to consult with them on such matters in future.

Now to be fair to them they had at least chosen a proper anniversary, were not marketing the shirt a year too late, and at least it wasn't amber and black stripes with a daft black shield and bar on the back.