Colchester are still unwilling to let their manager go. City's original £150,000 offer of compensation - three times the salary on the remaining year of Parkinson's contract - was rejected, as was the latest offer of £250,000. U's chairman Peter Heard is now demanding £500,000 plus another £100,000 in costs, which Adam Pearson has described as "quite ludicrous."
If and when the matter is resolved, Barlow will become Parkinson's assistant.