Scott Parker

Scott Matthew Parker is an English centre midfielder who plays for a London side Fulham. He represents the Three Lions. Scott was born in Lambeth.

He began to train in the Charlton Athletic and was given the place in ‘the Addicks’ first team in 1997. Scott made 128 appearances for his club and scored nine goals. On 30 January 2004, Parker was sold to London side Chelsea F.C. for £10 million. ‘The Blues’ won the right to buy the player from a couple of Premier League clubs. The contract was signed for four and a half years.

Parker was initially seen as cover for Claude Makélélé and Frank Lampard and that is why the midfielder had a few chances to reveal his talent at Stamford Bridge. Scott chipped in his only goal in the away match against Portsmouth. In the second half of 2003/2004 the player made a total of 15 appearances for Chelsea, usually coming on the pitch from the substitutes’ bench. However, that did not hamper his nomination as the PFA Young Player of the Year.

Before 2004/2005 ‘The Blues’ decided to strengthen their midfield even more by signing Arjen Robben and Tiago. Thereby, Parker’s opportunities in London became much vaguer. Besides, the player got a metatarsal bone fracture in the match against Norwich.

In July 2005 Scott was sold to English side Newcastle United for £6.5 million. The midfielder finally managed to show himself, mainly due to head coach of ‘Magpies’ Graeme James Souness, who included the player in the first team. Parker always showed an invariably high level of play and helped his team to finish 6th in the Premier League. Soon after his transfer Scott netted his first goal for Newcastle in the match against his former club, Charlton Athletic, which, however, didn’t help the team in a 1-3 loss. In March 2006 the player caught infectious mononucleosis and failed to compete for the place in the full England squad for the 2006 World Cup.

In July 2006 there was a change of the head coach in the footballer’s club and Glenn Roeder became the new club manager. Roeder appointed Scott the captain of Newcastle. In August 2006 Parker banged in his first goal as a captain of ‘Magpies’ in the match against Wigan. The English midfielder continued his brilliant performance for the club, due to which he was capped for the Three Lions. Scott also became the second best player in England for December 2006 by the opinion of Opta Index and Sky Sports. Newcastle began to degrade at the same time and was relegated to the Championship in two years.

In June 2007 Parker joined West Ham United for £7 million. The footballer was thrice named the Hammers Player of the Year from 2008 till 2011. After 2010/2011 West Ham was relegated to the Championship and Scott decided to leave the team.

On 31 August 2011, Spurs came to an agreement with ‘The Hammers’ about Scott Parker’s move to White Hart Lane. The transfer cost £5.5 million. In November 2011 head coach of Spurs Harry Redknapp was voted the Premier League Manager of the Month and Scott was chosen the Premier League Player of the Month. In 2011/2012 Parker with his club managed to take 4th place in the Premier League, but Spurs did not get to the UEFA Champions League and let their place to Chelsea according to the UEFA regulations.

Having played 62 matches for the Spurs Parker moved to Fulham in August 2013.

Scott can be called a box-to-box midfielder, because he both fulfills a lot of rough work and tries to participate in attacks of his team. However, he pays more attention to defense and support. In 2010/2011 Scott was one of the Premier League top tacklers, which characterizes him as a good defender. Despite a whole store of personal awards, the footballer did not gain many club honours and lifted only the UEFA Intertoto Cup in 2006 and the Football League First Division Champion in 2000.

The midfielder did not succeed in his international career. Scott was showing excellent performance for his clubs, but the England national team did not cap him for a long time. Parker got the only chance to reveal his talent in the Three Lions in 2012, when he went to UEFA Euro 2012 (hosted by Poland and Ukraine) and was a regular midfielder along with Steven Gerrard.