Scottish international Hendry has indicated an interest in returning to his former club following the dismissal of Roy Hodgson, even though he only joined Rangers in the summer.

Blackburn have yet to publicly indicate who they want to take over from Hodgson, but there has been intense media speculation that Hendry is their choice.

Rangers are currently top of the Scottish Premier table and are still in the UEFA Cup. Murray says Hendry remains an important part of their plans.

"That is why we paid £4m for him in the summer and Rangers are not in the business of buying players for that amount of money, only to let them go four months later," he added.

"We could certainly have done without these stories coming out when we are trying to prepare for what is a very important European match against Parma."

Tony Parkes: A loyal Blackburn servant

Tony Parkes has taken temporary charge at Blackburn, the fourth time he has acted as caretaker manager at the club, but does not want to be considered for the job on a permanent basis.

Former Liverpool boss Roy Evans and Football Association technical director Howard Wilkinson have also been linked with the Rovers job.

But there appears to be no chance of Kenny Dalglish returning to the club he led to the Premiership title as he is involved with a consortium trying to take control of Celtic.

Rovers are currently bottom of the FA Premiership and owner Jack Walker says money is available for strengthening the team when the new manager is appointed.

The exact amount is rumoured to be as high as £25m and Walker said: "We want to appoint someone quickly as we can, but it must be the right appointment.