Scott Parker (footballer)

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Scott Parker
Personal information
Full name	Scott Matthew Parker
Date of birth	13 October 1980 (1980-10-13) (age 27)
Place of birth	Lambeth, London, England
Height	1.75 m (5 ft 9 in)
Playing position	Midfielder
Club information
Current club	West Ham United
Number	8
Senior clubs1
Years	Club	App (Gls)*
1997–2004 2000 2004–2005 2005–2007 2007–	Charlton Athletic → Norwich City (loan) Chelsea Newcastle United West Ham United	128 (9) 006 (1) 015 (1) 055 (4) 018 (1)
National team2
1999–2001 2003–	England U21 England	011 (0) 003 (0)
1 Senior club appearances and goals counted for the domestic league only and correct as of 23:30, 27 May 2008 (UTC). 2 National team caps and goals correct as of 12:00, 24 December 2006 (UTC). * Appearances (Goals)

Scott Matthew Parker (born 13 October 1980) is an English footballer who currently plays for West Ham United. He is a midfielder, who has represented England at every level; from under-15 to senior, for whom he has made one start and two substitute appearances. He won his three England caps while playing for three different clubs. He is known as a tough tackling central midfielder who likes to get forward.

Contents 1 Background 2 Club career 2.1 Charlton Athletic 2.2 Chelsea 2.3 Newcastle United 2.4 West Ham United 3 International career 4 Statistics 5 References 6 External links

[edit] Background

Parker was born in Lambeth, London,^[1] and attended Haberdashers' Aske's Hatcham College in New Cross Gate. As a child, he supported Tottenham Hotspur^[2] and as a 13 year old, he appeared in a well known British advert for McDonald's, in which he played keepie uppie during their 1994 World Cup campaign^[3]. Parker is a graduate of the Football Association's now-defunct national School of Excellence at Lilleshall.^[1] He is married with one son.

[edit] Club career

[edit] Charlton Athletic

After graduating from Lilleshall, he signed for Charlton Athletic as a trainee and made his debut as a substitute against Bury^[1] in the first division on 23 August 1997, a game which ended 0-0. He signed his first professional contract with the club two months later.^[1] Over the next couple of years he made only a few sporadic substitute appearances for Charlton, although he was one of the brightest prospects in English football. In October 2000 Charlton, now in the Premier League, loaned Parker to First Division side Norwich City^[4] for two months to give the England under-21 some first team experience. On his return to The Valley Parker was immediately called into the first team to replace injured captain Mark Kinsella. Parker played so well for Charlton that, upon his return from injury, Kinsella could not regain his place in the starting lineup. Parker soon became the linchpin of Charlton's midfield, combining tenacious tackling with an ability to carry the ball quickly from defence to attack and play telling passes, creating many chances for his teammates. There was talk that the Addicks would mount a serious challenge for Champions League qualification. He played 145 times for Charlton, scoring ten goals.^[1]

[edit] Chelsea

Parker, who had been consistently linked with moves away from Charlton for several years, finally left the Valley on 30 January 2004 to join Chelsea for a fee of £10 million^[5] after a protracted and acrimonious transfer saga. Curbishley, the Charlton manager, criticised his attitude following news of Chelsea's interest, accusing him of bad behaviour and saying that "...his conduct in training has not been what it should have been."^[6] Parker was initially signed as cover for Claude Makélélé and Frank Lampard, but did not get too many chances to play in his preferred position. He scored his only goal for Chelsea against Portsmouth at Fratton Park. Within just two months of signing for Chelsea, he made another substitute appearance for England on 31 March 2004, this time against Sweden. At the end of the 2003-04 season Parker was named as the PFA Young Player of the Year.^[7]

Following the summer signings of Arjen Robben, and Tiago, Parker's first team opportunities were extremely limited during the 2004-05 season. His problems were compounded when he broke a metatarsal bone in a game against his former club, Norwich City^[8]. This injury, coupled with the signing of Jiří Jarošík, served to add to the rumours that he would be sold by José Mourinho in the summer.

[edit] Newcastle United

Parker was indeed sold the following summer, moving to Newcastle United on 15 June 2005 for a fee of £6.5m^[9]. A move to Everton had stalled previously due to wage demands. Still, he did end his association with Chelsea with a League Cup winner's medal.

After joining Newcastle, Parker once again became a first-team regular in the Premier League. He was one of the few players at the club to show any consistency during an often difficult season; Newcastle finished in 7th place, despite having a very poor start under Graeme Souness.

In March 2006 he was diagnosed with glandular fever, putting an end to his season^[10]. Indeed, it turned out that Parker had played two games with the condition, showing his incredible drive and durability once again. The timing was especially unfortunate for Parker, who had been playing well for Newcastle, as it ended any hopes he may have had of forcing his way into the England squad for the 2006 FIFA World Cup.

On 14 July 2006 he was named Newcastle United's new captain by manager Glenn Roeder^[11]. His first goal as captain came against Wigan Athletic on 19 August 2006. Parker scored his second goal of the season against Fulham on 9 September 2006. Ironically, it was when he was substituted, that Newcastle conceded 2 goals and subsequently lost the game. Despite Newcastle's poor form, his impressive performances earned him a recall to the England squad on 29 September after an absence of more than two years. On 7 November Parker made a lung bursting run to score a goal in the 116th minute against Watford in the Carling Cup. He then scored in the penalty shoot-out, to allow Newcastle to progress in the competition. He scored his 4th goal of the 2006-07 season season against Tottenham on 23 December 2006.

Scott Parker was found to be the second best player in the country for December 2006 by Sky Sports and Opta Index. Parker scored in the 3-1 win against Tottenham Hotspur, on 23 December 2006.

Parker led Newcastle on their way to the Intertoto Cup victory and was presented with the UEFA Intertoto Cup plaque on 8 March 2007 before the UEFA Cup first leg tie with AZ Alkmaar, which Newcastle won 4-2.

[edit] West Ham United

In June 2007, West Ham United announced the signing of Scott Parker for £7 million^[12]. Due to injury, he did not make his first team debut until 26 September 2007 in the 1-0 League Cup victory against Plymouth Argyle^[13]. His full Premier League debut came on 29 September 2007 in the 1-0 home defeat to Arsenal, a game which saw Parker sustaining yet another injury and being substituted by Hayden Mullins at half-time^[14]. Parker scored his first goal for West Ham in the 2-1 win at Middlesbrough on 22 December 2007^[15]; The match winner in the 90th minute.

[edit] International career

Scott Parker has represented England at every level from Under-15 to the senior team.^[1] He has eleven caps for the England U21 team.^[16]

Parker's international debut for the senior England team came on 16 November 2003 when he came on in the 66th minute as a substitute replacing Wayne Rooney in a 3-2 defeat against Denmark^[17].

Parker's form earned him a place in the starting line-up for England's European Championships qualifier away to Croatia. Parker was restricted to tracking back and covering due to the attacking players in the team like Frank Lampard and Steven Gerrard. England boss Steve McClaren specially told the no nonsense hardman to chase the wingers and assist the two wing backs, Gary Neville and Ashley Cole.

If Parker gains another England cap while at West Ham, he will become the first player to receive his first four full caps whilst playing for four different teams.

[edit] Statistics

Club Performance

Club	Season	League		FA Cup		League Cup		Europe		Others		Total
		App	Goals	App	Goals	App	Goals	App	Goals	App	Goals	App	Goals
West Ham United	2007-08	8	1	0	0	2	0	0	0	0	0	10	1
Newcastle United	2006-07	29	3	0	0	2	1	10	0	0	0	41	4
	2005-06	26	1	3	1	2	0	1	0	0	0	32	2
Chelsea	2004-05	4	0	0	0	3	0	4	0	0	0	11	0
	2003-04	11	1	1	0	0	0	5	0	0	0	17	1
Charlton Athletic	2003-04	20	2	0	0	2	1	0	0	0	0	22	3
	2002-03	27	4	1	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	28	4
	2001-02	37	1	0	0	3	0	0	0	0	0	40	1
	2000-01	19	1	3	0	2	0	0	0	0	0	24	1
Norwich City	2000-01	6	1	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	6	1
Charlton Athletic	1999-2000	15	1	1	0	2	0	0	0	0	0	18	1
	1998-99	4	0	1	0	1	0	0	0	0	0	6	0
	1997-98	3	0	1	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	4	0
Total		169	15	6	1	17	2	14	0	0	0	206	18

[edit] References

[edit] External links

• Scott Parker career stats at Soccerbase
• Profile at thefa.com
• Profile at premierleague.com
• Profile at the West Ham United Homepage
• Career information at ex-canaries.co.uk

Awards
Preceded by Dean Kiely	Charlton Athletic F.C. Fans' Player of the Year 2002–03	Succeeded by Dean Kiely
Preceded by Jermaine Jenas	PFA Young Player of the Year 2004	Succeeded by Wayne Rooney
Sporting positions
Preceded by Alan Shearer	Newcastle United Captain 2006-2007	Succeeded by Geremi

v • d • e West Ham United F.C. – current squad 1 Green • 2 Neill • 3 McCartney • 4 Gabbidon • 5 Ferdinand • 6 Upson • 7 Ljungberg • 8 Parker • 9 Ashton • 10 Bellamy • 11 Etherington • 12 Cole • 14 Paintsil • 16 Noble • 17 Mullins • 18 Spector • 19 Collins • 20 Faubert • 21 Wright • 23 Walker • 25 Zamora • 26 Quashie • 27 Davenport • 29 Bowyer • 30 Tomkins • 32 Dyer • 34 Boa Morte • 35 Štěch • 39 Collison • 40 Sears • Manager: Curbishley

Persondata
NAME	Parker, Scott Matthew
ALTERNATIVE NAMES
SHORT DESCRIPTION	Footballer
DATE OF BIRTH	13 October 1980
PLACE OF BIRTH	Lambeth, London, England
DATE OF DEATH
PLACE OF DEATH