BOSS Scott Parker opened up on what he described as the "hardest part of the job", admitting: "Football is ruthless at times."

With the end of the transfer window fast approaching, Cherries are working tirelessly to improve their squad to give them the best possible chance of staying in the Premier League.

But on the other side of the coin, the only way new arrivals can be accommodated is for other players to be let go, due to Premier League squad registration rules.

There are currently no vacant spaces within Cherries' 25-man list, which will have to be submitted after Thursday's deadline. That means players will either have to be loaned out or sold, or will be ineligible to play in league fixtures, until January at least.

Asked how he has developed the ruthless streak required of disappointing players by either leaving them out of a team or selling them, Parker told the Daily Echo: "It's difficult. Of course it's difficult.

"It's the hardest part of the job to be honest with you, whether that's on a Saturday when you have to name a squad of 19, 20 players and there’s certain players who have worked hard during the week but are not in it.

"It's not an easy part of the job. And then also the part of the job where you need to get to and where you need to go and when you step up levels in the Premier League, the levels are absolutely huge.

"There’s a combination of a lot of things. Us as a football club, what's best for us in the development of the football club and how we move forward. Players, their personal feelings towards that. Do they want to play? Don't they want to play? They want game-time.

"I'm a manager that is always very honest with players, so if I don't feel that someone's going to get playing time, then I'd rather give him a heads up on that to obviously move on.

"If I don't think a player is for me and is not for us at this present moment in time, then again it's an opportunity to move on.

"This is a hard part of the job, but football is ruthless at times and this is just part and parcel of it, of what you have to do sometimes."

The likes of Siriki Dembele, Jamal Lowe, Emiliano Marcondes and Jack Stacey have been linked with moves away this month.

Asked if it makes it more difficult because some of the players who could move on played a key role in the club clinching promotion last season, Parker added: "I was a player for 20 years in it. It was the same with me at certain moments.

"At Spurs, I came off the back of an incredible season at Spurs and AVB (Andre Villas-Boas) came in and wanted to go another way.

"In football and modern day, the way we are, you need to accept what the positions are in the game we're in, really.

"So, of course, I have nothing but huge respect and appreciation for every single one of my players, for sure.

"But like I said, the levels go up. And for us to evolve and for us to improve and try and stay in this division, these are the decisions and the actions which probably need to take place at certain times.

"While they're not easy, this is what sometimes you have to do."